Magic Hour

Wynton Marsalis has compiled a remarkable track record as a jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer. He has become the most recognized jazz artist in the world today. He serves as Artistic Director of the prestigious Jazz at Lincoln Center and is renowned as a jazz statesman-a role officially recognized in 2001 when United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan proclaimed him an international ambassador of goodwill and appointed him a UN Messenger of Peace. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards and is the first jazz musician ever to be honored with the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in Music (for his epic 1997 recording Blood on the Fields). Wynton Marsalis has produced 33 jazz and 11 classical records, including three certified gold records. 

Now Wynton Marsalis has joined the roster of legendary jazz label Blue Note Records, reuniting with Blue Note president and music industry veteran Bruce Lundvall, who signed Wynton to his very first record deal in 1980. Marsalis makes his label debut with The Magic Hour, an upbeat, lyrical eight-song outing featuring his remarkable quartet-pianist Eric Lewis, bassist Carlos Henriquez and drummer Ali Jackson -and two special guests, Blue Note label mates Dianne Reeves and Bobby McFerrin. 

The Magic Hour is Marsalis' first jazz ensemble studio recording since 1999's Marciac Suite. His last album was All Rise, an extended composition for big band, gospel choir and symphony orchestra. "All Rise was such a huge piece involving over two hundred people. I wanted to produce my next recording with a smaller group," says the trumpeter, who settled into Right Track Studios in New York for two days last June to record the new album. "I wanted to restate my basic love of jazz music in a quartet format," says Marsalis.