Ellis Marsalis, easily one of the most important jazz educators today, gives us a lesson of a different kind on the A.F.O. release The Classic Ellis Marsalis.

It is a history lesson, a recording documenting a step in the progression of New Orleans jazz.

It is a music lesson, a workshop by some of New Orleans' best on how to swing, how to play as an ensemble, and how to mirror the players' souls, improvising around the vehicle of a song.

And it is a lesson in endurance. Ori...