So I just got to The Magic Hour in my odyssey to listen to the entire Wynton Marsalis discography.
It's a good album, but not one of my favorite Marsalis works. However, it does hold a certain nostalgia for me because I bought the CD the day after I heard about it on an NPR review segment. I pretty much purchased it the day after it was released in March 2004.
But that's not what holds the nostalgia for me. A day or two after buying it I was listening to it in my truck as I drove to a job interview at Highland Park High School. I was nervous about applying to teach at one of the most prestigious high schools in Texas. This album relaxed me greatly and gave me some peace as I drove through the wonder world of tree lined wealth in the villages of University and Highland Park.
Whenever I hear this album I'm reminded of that drive into another world. I only stayed at that job for a year. I enjoyed it very much and the people were great. But I decided to return to my original teaching job with Title One students. I found so much wealth in the hands of so few disturbing. I decided I wanted to go back to my original calling of helping teach students in need.
However, when this album plays I'm transported back to that spring drive among the green trees of the Park Cities. We were a few days from Spring Break. There was anxious anticipation of new opportunities in the air. New warmth was making the winter fade away.
I always marvel how music can transport us to some pretty specific places in our minds. I just read a short story by Chekhov (In The Cart) that focused on the power of an image to unlock memories both good and bad. Funny how most of these Marsalis albums transport me back to happy or warm memories.
Hard to believe that was almost nineteen years ago. It sure doesn't feel that long ago.
Strangely enough, this album seems to have disappeared from Apple Music (the service I subscribe to). Fortunately I had downloaded it to iTunes years and years ago. Just another reason to be skeptical of digital streaming.
