I Heard You Twice the First Time (1992)

The elder Marsalis sib remains a commanding, even great, saxophonist of the post-hard-bop school, but a wayward conceptualist. Here he shoots high and ends up confused. This wild smorgasbord — mixing blues royalty B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, and Linda Hopkins with Marsalis' own robust jazz band — suffers from a serious identity crisis: now a blowing session, now a socio-historical concept album, now an ode to roots of jazz and blues. The highlights: a kinetic toast to Sidney Bechet, ''Sidney in Da Haus'' (with brother Wynton on board), and ''Simi Valley Blues,'' an indictment of the Rodney King verdict. But in the end, I Heard You Twice the First Time bows from the weight of good intentions. B-