This arrived in my mailbox just a day after the US election, but the deeper irony is that Marsalis's aim to make America appreciate black music again is going to be that much harder and that much more necessary. His community-based NOLA band includes veterans such as Roger Lewis (of Dirty Dozen fame) and Herlin Riley (ex-Wynton) alongside several generations of local players of obvious talent and enormous enthusiasm. The repertoire of this debut album covers everything from the Dirty Dozen's ‘Snowball’ and Allen Toussaint's ‘Java’ to Benny Carter's tricky ‘Symphony In Riffs’ and Ellington's ‘Second Line’ to Copland's ‘Fanfare For The Common Man’. There are occasional vocals, for instance Tremé's Wendell Pierce on the title-track or rapper Dee-I and choir on an unironic ‘Back To Africa’, all of which adds up to a powerful and frequently joyful message. (It's a bit surprising that, outside of the press release sent to scribes such as myself, there's no mission statement or explanation in the packaging – nor even any composer credits that I can see.) Let's hope that Marsalis enjoys more success than America's latest president with his campaign.