A consistent strand running through Marsalis’ vast discography is the ‘issues record’, with both historical references and topical resonances. Draw the line from Black Codes Of The Underground to Blood On The Fields to From The Plantation To The Penitentiary, among others. This new offering sees the trumpeter-composer-director of Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra hold forth on no less a subject than the state of the modern world plagued by age old evils such as the abuse of power, corporate greed, bigotry and cult of personality.

To highlight any one of the 53 sections would be an injustice to the holistic, light-opera texture of the album, though the bluesy interludes and the occasional saxophone solos are exceptional and provide the olio with a straightahead, jazzy resonance.