The beauty of listening to an orchestra in fine form is like being treated to an oceanic swell of music that rises and falls, creating great harmonic waves of sound. This further regales the intellect with the swish of brushstrokes as the music changes in color, from sometimes thick, dark dripping shades, evoking brooding emotion to the pale and moist shades of elation in an ever-changing palette. Then there are the timbres that refresh the soul and the rhythms that dance as soloists and ensemble engage in endless maneuvers, to bring the music to life. This and so much more is something to that flows effortlessly and endlessly from the Gerald Wilson Orchestra on Legacy. The vibrant force of the music is unstoppable, as Wilson draws music from the soul of each member of his ensemble.

Aside from the sophistication of the music—putting it in a stellar region all its own—Wilson digs ever so deeply into his own heart and soul, and finds the magical element of the blues in its most visceral and elemental form. That and the almost vanishing aspect of great jazz: swing. So whether he is paying homage to one of his fellow-musicians, albeit from another era—Igor Stravinsky, or Giacomo Puccini or Claude Debussy—Wilson calls up the swagger and wickedly sensuous swish of rhythmic swing. Like the other masters of the attitudinal strut,