At 18, he played with Art Blakey. Now, at 36, Wynton Marsalis is the premier jazz musician of his generation, and "Blood on the Fields," which won him a Pulitzer Prize, is his finest achievement. Recorded with the musicians of the Lincoln Center, this three-disk set is a complex meditation on slavery that combines blues, chants, call-and-response, spiritual, and Caribbean rhythms.

Chris Hodgdon