WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET - Live At The Village Vanguard (1999) 7CD BOX-SET | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

As if releasing eight single albums in 1999 weren't enough, Wynton Marsalis capped this deluge of material at the end of the year with a seven-CD mini-box of live recordings, taped over a five-year span at New York City's Village Vanguard club. Greed certainly wasn't the motive, for Sony Music priced the set at an unbelievably low $39.98, so the issue is whether Marsalis is justified in feeling that his music is worth documenting in such exhaustive detail. Each disc is organized to simulate a different night of the week, with a different, often loosely defined, and not-always-followed theme for each disc. The box reflects the Marsalis septet in a joyous mood as it hit the the Vanguard stage each night, spurred on by a vocal, exuberant throng packed into the small, wedge-shaped joint. The well-drilled septet was capable of assimilating a varied, if selective, spectrum of jazz tradition, from the New Orleans funeral music and handkerchief-waving street sass of "Flee As a Bird to the Mountain/Happy Feet Blues" to the sizzling post-bop of "The Cat in the Hat Is Back." Their indefatigable trumpeter/leader is the most liberated, expressive player of the lot. Along with a selection of standards and originals, there are also full-length and excerpted live treatments of some of Marsalis' extended pieces. A number of the performances, particularly of some of his own material, are a bit too well drilled; the loosest contrapuntal New Orleans jams go over the best for the home listener. In the grand scheme of jazz history, this music won't rank with some other landmark sessions at the Vanguard in terms of influence or transcendence. Yet the music deserves a hearing as an extended souvenir of one of the most talented neo-conservative bands of the '90s. Richard S. Ginell  
    Monday Night    
1-1    Welcome (#1)    0:41
1-2    Cherokee 6:53
Composed By – Ray Noble
1-3    The Egyptian Blues 8:11
Composed By – Wessell Anderson
1-4    Embraceable You 5:26
Composed By – George Gershwin
1-5    Black Codes From The Underground 16:33
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
1-6    Harriet Tubman 13:42
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
1-7    Monk's Mood 3:01
Composed By – Thelonious Monk
1-8    And The Band Played On 5:35
Composed By – Wycliffe Gordon
1-9    The Cat In The Hat Is Back 9:22
Composed By – Todd Williams
1-10    (Set Break)    3:28
    Tuesday Night    
2-1    Welcome (#2)    1:21
2-2    Uptown Ruler 14:21
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
2-3    Down Home With Homey 17:56
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
2-4    Reflections 6:07
Composed By – Thelonious Monk
2-5    Jig's Jig 12:13
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
2-6    Sometimes It Goes Like That 6:49
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
2-7    In A Sentimental Mood 3:47
Composed By – Duke Ellington
2-8    Knozz-Moe-King 8:23
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
2-9    (Set Break)    5:32
    Wednesday Night    
3-1    Welcome (#3)    0:36
3-2    Buggy Ride 8:36
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
3-3    I'll Remember April 8:05
Composed By – Gene De Paul
3-4    Stardust 5:20
Composed By – Hoagy Carmichael
3-5    In The Court Of King Oliver 7:51
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
3-6    Bona & Paul 2:09
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
3-7    Four In One 11:55
Composed By – Thelonious Monk
3-8    Way Back Blues 6:45
Composed By – Count Basie
3-9    Rubber Bottom 6:11
Composed By – Duke Ellington
3-10    Midnight In Paris 3:43
Composed By – Billy Strayhorn
3-11    Play The Blues And Go
Composed By – Duke Ellington
3-12    (Set Break)    5:05
    Thursday Night    
4-1    Welcome (#4)    1:58
4-2    Pedro's Getaway 16:30
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
4-3    Evidence 4:27
Composed By – Thelonious Monk
4-4    Embraceable You 12:12
Composed By – George Gershwin
4-5    A Long Way 12:39
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
4-6    The Arrival 12:57
Composed By – Marcus Roberts
4-7    Misterioso 6:01
Composed By – Thelonious Monk
4-8    Happy Birthday 1:02
Traditional
4-9    The Seductress 4:36
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
4-10    (Set Break)    3:54
    Friday Night    
5-1    Welcome (#5)    0:31
5-2    The Majesty Of The Blues 15:45
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
5-3    Flee As A Bird To The Mountain 3:13
Traditional
5-4    Happy Feet Blues 6:27
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
5-5    Thelonious 4:47
Composed By – Thelonious Monk
5-6    Stardust 6:45
Composed By – Hoagy Carmichael
5-7    Intro To Buddy Bolden    2:09
5-8    Buddy Bolden 5:47
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
5-9    Swing Down Swing Town 9:35
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
5-10    Bright Mississippi 8:40
Composed By – Thelonious Monk
5-11    (Set Break)    3:04
    Saturday Night    
6-1    Welcome (#6)    0:57
6-2    Citi Movement 40:24
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
6-3    Winter Wonderland 9:03
Composed By – Felix Bernard
6-4    Brother Veal 4:30
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
6-6    Cherokee 11:52
Composed By – Ray Noble
6-7    Juba And A O'Brown Squaw 4:48
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
    Sunday Night    
7-1    Welcome (#7)    0:34
7-2    In The Sweet Embrace Of Life 55:00
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
7-3    Local Announcements 4:46
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
7-4    Altar Call 10:42
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis
7-5    Final Statement 5:59
Composed By – Wynton Marsalis