In This House, On This Morning

Ebony, June, 1994

Renaissance jazzman Wynton Marsalis is back, this time on double CD, In This House, On This Morning (Columbia). You might as well be in a Sunday service, preparing your heart for a spiritual feast as you listen to this masterpiece. Trumpeter Marsalis and his septet skillfully serve up interpretations of the passionate Black church experience through complex meters and daring sounds. The instrumental production, which Marsalis composed himself, explores chants, groans and shouts through an upbeat "Devotional," an earnest "Call To Prayer" (in which contralto Marion Williams delivers a solo), a tambourine-led "Hymn," a solemn "Altar Call" and a guttural "Sermon." It all ends with a musically fulfilling "Pot Blessed Dinner." Beginning this month, The Wynton Marsalis Septet will launch a nationwide tour, performing this seamless program in Black churches across the country.

Recall an age of innocence and youthful frustration in the rousing Smokey Robinson and the Miracles--35th Anniversary Collection (Motown). The commemorative set of 97 tracks, including previously unreleased tunes, is packed with baby-boomer favorites. Forerunners of today's harmonizers, the Miracles seduce with clever rhymes about life's joys and pains. Their whimsical spirit shines through on songs like "Bad Girl" the proverbial "Shop Around," light-hearted ballads such as "Ooo Baby, Baby," and the unforgettable "I Second That Emotion." This superb set, which chronicles the group's 1952 beginning, Smokey's solo career and the Miracles' subsequent successes, is an audio library must.