1985 · Album
Black Codes (From The Underground)
Recorded 1985 · Columbia Records · Produced by Wynton Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis
Young Trumpet, Old Codes, New Vision
Marsalis arrives fully formed, speaking his own language while deep in conversation with jazz history.
When Wynton Marsalis made Black Codes (From the Underground) in 1985, he was twenty-three years old and already carrying the weight of expectation. He'd won a Grammy the year before. Critics were watching. This album showed he wasn't going to be a museum piece playing someone else's museum pieces — he was thinking about what jazz could sound like when a young musician didn't feel obligated to choose between tradition and innovation.
The music here sits in post-bop territory, closer to Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter than the standards-heavy approach Marsalis would later champion. Marsalis leads a working band through originals that have real architecture — they breathe, they have space, they don't announce themselves. The rhythm section locks in tight enough that you stop noticing it's there, which is exactly when a rhythm section is doing its job best. His trumpet doesn't showboat. Instead, he gets at something harder: the difference between being busy and being musical. The solos unfold thoughtfully, with actual phrasing ideas, not just chops on display.
In Marsalis's catalog of fifteen albums, this is worth seeking out if you want to understand where he came from musically before he became the Classical Jazz Guy. It's not his most famous record, and it's not where you'd start if you're new to him, but it's the one where he sounds most like a working jazz musician figuring things out in real time. It holds up well — no flourish, no filler, just a young artist making a case for his own voice.
Who's playing
Charnett Moffettdouble bass
Ron Carterdouble bass
Kenny Kirklandpiano
Branford Marsalissaxophone
Wynton Marsalistrumpet
Jeffrey “Tain” Wattsdrums
Where next?
More by Wynton Marsalis
Hot House Flowers 1984
J Mood 1986
Standard Time Vol. 3: The Resolution Of Romance 1990
Standard Time Vol. 2: Intimacy Calling 1991
The musicians on this record
Where? 1961
Ron Carter
plays double bass here
plays double bass here
Royal Garden Blues 1986
Branford Marsalis
plays saxophone here
plays saxophone here
