Song:Hit The Road Jack
Album:Here We Go Again: Celebrating The Genius Of Ray Charles
One of the things Wynton Marsalis likes to do is take jazz to the mainstream audience by recording with artists who don't normally record jazz. I talked about this a couple of months ago when Marsalis recorded with Eric Clapton. Here he does the same thing with Willie Nelson and it results in a very entertaining album that will appeal to a non-jazz audience that will maybe get into jazz. Marsalis and Nelson first met in 2007 in The Allen Room in Lincoln Center in New York City. They recorded an album together. Two Men With The Blues topped the jazz charts in 2008. With that success, they decided to do a Ray Charles tribute concert at the Rose Theater in Lincoln Center. There were two concerts on Feb. 9 & 10, 2009 and the plan was to release a CD and DVD. Norah Jones was invited to appear and she appears on half of the songs including Hit The Road Jack. Jones was Blue Note's most popular artist at the time. The band was Marsalis' usual band including Walter Blanding on tenor sax, Dan Nimmer on piano, Carlos Henriquez on bass, Ali Jackson on drums and Mickey Raphael on harmonica. The CD was released May 2011 and reached #2 on the Jazz Album chart. There does not seem to be a DVD release. Of course Marsalis is criticized for doing albums like this. But it's not aimed at hardcore jazz fans. And it is entertaining. Here's Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis featuring Norah Jones performing Hit The Road Jack at the Rose Theater Feb. 2009.
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