As lyrical, exalted, swinging and raw as the music it celebrates, Jazz In the Bittersweet Blues of Life is an evocative account of the last American tour of the acclaimed Wynton Marsalis Septet.

These are the years of Soul Gestures in Southern Blue and In this House, On this Morning. This is the music that anticipated the Pulitzer Prize - winning oratorio Blood On the Fields and the millennial epic All Rise. With a musical line-up that includes Wycliffe Gordon, Herlin Riley, Marcus Roberts, Todd Williams, Reginald Veal, and Wess "Warm Daddy" Anderson, the stories are funny and moving, often poignant, and always passionate.

Marsalis's candid meditations on home, family, performance, his role as bandleader, and his growth as a composer all sing with the cadence of his inimitable voice. Written with Carl Vigeland and set on the stage, in the studio, and in great cities and small towns across the country, Jazz In the Bittersweet Blues of Life explores where jazz comes from and how it is created in America today.

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