Meeting of Lions

In the wake of the stunning commercial success of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, record companies rushed to put out more hip and swinging product from a generation of ferocious Black talent. They were marketed as “The Young Lions.” If some of those late-’80s and early-’90s CDs haven’t stood the test of time, it’s simply because these very young musicians were mining a somewhat conservative vein without yet knowing the wisdom of the masters.

Many of the best “Young Lion” albums featured a powerhouse drummer, someone like Jeff “Tain” Watts interview with Ted Panken, he explained, “An element of the ultra-conservative approach was too pristine for me. It didn’t have the energy of the motherland and the fire and fury of what we’ve survived as people in the Middle Passage. On the other hand, while I appreciated having no-holds-barred, I was also taught the importance of being able to express that level of freedom within the harmonic construct. I was looking for something that would be a little bit of both.”