Wynton Marsalis, English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard - Handel, Purcell, Torelli, Fasch & Molter (1984)

Having made a commercially and artistically successful classical debut with a classical-period album the year before, Marsalis doubled back to the Baroque era for the follow-up, a grab bag of concertos, overtures, arias, and such. If anything, this album is even more winning than the debut album because the program offers several easily assimilated changes of pace and the music contains more opportunities for Marsalis to soar in the trumpet's high-flying upper register. He flashes through the Fasch Trumpet Concerto, a pair of Torelli Sonatas for Trumpet and Strings, short excerpts from Purcell's operas, and Molter's Trumpet Concerto No. 2 in high style, displaying a smooth, straightforward tone that doesn't go beyond letting the music speak for itself. Soprano Edita Gruberova sounds luminous yet a bit distant and not too intelligible in Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim and Eternal Source of Light Divine and Purcell's Sound the Trumpet. But then, it's pretty obvious who the designated star is; Marsalis' trumpet is always mixed above that of his singer. Raymond Leppard returns to lead stylishly tailored accompaniments, recorded in London with the crack English Chamber Orchestra. Like the one before it, this classical album was released simultaneously with a Marsalis jazz project (Hot House Flowers), making both divisions of CBS Records extremely happy.