Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Two Men With the Blues

“At first blush, this odd-couple billing would seem like a bizarre musical gumbo indeed, until one remembers that Willie Nelson knocked out a full-on pot-themed reggae album a few years ago. As it is, “Two Men With the Blues” is the recorded evidence of a two-night Jazz at Lincoln Center summit in January 2007 and an album whose enviably assured vibe pretty much drips out of the speakers. “Blues” is more of a relaxed, jaunty toss-off of well-attended numbers (”Georgia on My Mind,” “Stardust,” “Basin Street Blues”) than anything terribly revelatory, but given the names on the marquee that’s more than enough. When Nelson settles into “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” and Wynton Marsalis powers a mighty brass section through “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It,” all you really need to do is sit back and dig it. —Jeff Vrabel”