Irvin Mayfield Half Past Autumn Suite CD

This is an Enchanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Trumpeter and los Hombres Calientes co-founder Irvin Mayfield's third album for the Basin Street label is an ambitious suite of compositions written in honor of photographer Gordon Parks, whose works were placed on exhibit in the New Orleans Museum of Art in 2000. As might be expected, Mayfield's compositions tend towards the abstract and impressionistic, with moments that draw explicitly on various musical traditions of New Orleans (note especially the brass band and second-line flavors that permeate "Evening") and on the blues (note especially the wonderful "Blue Dawn ('Til the Morning)," which features a spectacular cameo appearance by Wynton Marsalis). The album's finest moment, though, comes on the gently beautiful "Wind Song," a trumpet and piano duet between Mayfield and Parks himself. The CD includes a CD-ROM component that offers downloadable photos from the exhibition, an interview with Parks, and two behind-the-scenes videos of the band during the album's recording sessions. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson

Guests Gordon Parks,Wynton Marsalis+Delfeayo Marsalis

Recorded at Sear Sound Studios, New York, New York in November 2001. Includes liner notes by Stanley Crouch.

Personnel: Irvin Mayfield (trumpet); Aaron Fletcher (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Marcus Strickland (tenor saxophone); Wynton Marsalis (trumpet); Delfeayo Marsalis (trombone); Gordon Parks, Richard Johnson (piano); Edwin Livingston (bass); Jaz Sawyer (drums).

Personnel: Irvin Mayfield (trumpet); Aaron Fletcher (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Marcus Strickland (tenor saxophone); Wynton Marsalis (trumpet); Delfeayo Marsalis (trombone); Richard G. Johnson, Gordon Parks (piano); Jaz Sawyer (drums).

Audio Mixer: Jalmus.

Recording information: Sear Sound, New York, NY (11/27/2001-11/29/2001).

Photographer: Jeff Strout.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.CMJ (1/27/03, p.27) - "...We get Mayfield's perfectly rounded tone and stunning chops served up by a sympathetic working combo..."