Legacy Mack Avenue

At 93 this month, Gerald Wilson is a senior member of the bus- pass demographic, still composing, arranging and orchestrating big band jazz. This is Wilson’s fifth CD for Mack Avenue since 2002 in a series that has seen some of the strongest work of his career, among them two memorable examples of the swinging tradition in which he works. Unfortunately, Legacy isn’t one of them. Wilson’s enormous gifts as an orchestrator could make a slim idea go a long way structurally, but anno domini has exacted a physical toll,and there’s little evidence of development in his variations of motifs borrowed from Stravinsky, Debussy and Puccini, or in the motif running through his seven-part Chicago suite here. A superb band of stellar New York talent, beautifully recorded, and good pieces by Wilson’s son Anthony and grandson Eric Otis which echo the master’s voice don’t quite compensate. A pity. See mackavenue.com