Sweet Swing Blues on the Road: A Year with Wynton Marsalis and His Septet

Wynton Marsalis's captivating text and Frank Stewart's stunning black-and-white photographs give us a year in the life of today's premier jazz musician and composer, in a book that is itself structured like a jazz blues.

Featuring jive-talking cat daddies in the Second Line, gorgeous and mysterious women in the Sweet Refrain, exotic vistas in the Bridge, and musicians, like the J-Master on piano, who live the music the way they play it. By turns lyrical, down-to-earth, exalted, and profane, here are a thrilling evocation of the experience of group improvisation, a provocative take on rap, and distinctive views on the road, romance, creativity, politics, culture, tradition and innovation, and the role of the artist in American society. The result is a fascinating self-portrait, and the next best thing to being there for every fan who has ever dreamed of traveling with the band.

The most popular and acclaimed jazz musician of his generation, Wynton Marsalis is also a distinguished classical performer, the first artist to win Grammy awards for both jazz and classical recordings. The founder of Lincoln Center's Classical Jazz Series, Marsalis is artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center Frank Stewart is a prize-winning photographer and filmmaker. His credits include Two Centuries of Black American Art and the Emmy-winning Bearden Plays Bearded. 137 duotones