The Big Three Michael Holley

Growing up in Copenhagen, Michael Lington remembers the precise moment he decided he needed to move to America if he was going to seriously pursue a career in music. He was still a budding musician at the time, who loved several different genres: jazz, pop, R&B and more—as a young boy he’d even met the American swing legend Benny Goodman. But it wasn’t until he was on the verge of turning 20 that Lington—now recognized as one of the most creative and successful contemporary soul and jazz saxophonists in the world—made his fateful decision.

This stupendous seven-CD collection from the all-world trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis chronicles the amazing evolution of his underrated live septets at the legendary Village Vanguard from 1990 to 1994. Sequenced to simulate a week-long gig, the set melds together three different incarnations of Marsalis's ensemble: the gifted New Orleans-born drummer Herlin Riley, the ebullient Wessel Anderson on sopranino and alto saxes, and the fluent trombonist Wycliffe Gordon are the constants.