Most people probably know Wynton Marsalis as the brother of Branford, the former bandleader for Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. What most people probably don't realize is that Wynton has a remarkable resume of his own. He signed his first record contract at the age of 19, he has released more albums than any other member of the legendary Marsalis family, he has won 8 Grammys, and as of last year, became the first jazz musician in history to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Wynton Marsalis is, pound-for-pound, arguably the most talented member of the first family of jazz. Although, he has yet to be a bandleader for a late night talk show.

This is the fifth volume in Wynton's Standard Times series. This disc, like the previous four, is a recording of songs ranging from Gershwin to Berlin, to some originals composed by Marsalis himself. The songs he chooses blend together wonderfully to produce a specific tone and mood for each album. With this set mood he uses each album to tell a "story" of a particular phase of a relationship, almost like one big soap opera. No points to the winner who guesses which phase this album is about.

Wynton's playing is truly something to be treasured. He is able to capture the desired emotion in any given song at any given instant. You can almost feel exactly what he is feeling during each track. During the course of this disc, I could have sworn I was listening to Miles Davis or Dizzy Gillespie. He is most ably backed by Eric Reed on piano and Lewis Nash on drums. His bass player, Reginald Veal, has performed with him on previous albums and is just as good as ever.

The Midnight Blues was performed live at a recording hall. Each section of the band played together in "real time" while being recorded. No overdubbing was used on this album. The producer chose this way to allow one instrument to "leak" over on to another, allowing the musicians to be spontaneous with each other. Almost as if you were seeing them perform live in concert. It makes for a very impressive recording. Truly brilliant is the only way to describe it.