No Room For Argument

Because the brilliant trumpeter Wallace Roney emerged on the jazz scene at the same time as Wynton Marsalis, it took a little while for his star to shine (and not be in Marsalis's shadow). Roney recorded for Muse and Warner Bros., and with No Room for Argument, he's found a new home on Chick Corea's Stretch label. He's backed by a first-rate ensemble that includes his wife, keyboardist Geri Allen, his brother Antoine on saxophones and bass clarinet, and several Miles Davis alumni: bassist Buster Williams, drummer Lenny White, and synthesizer wizard Adam Holzman. With his piercing Milesian Harmon mute and full-bodied open horn at the helm, Roney delivers 10 tracks that blend 1970s-style fusion with cutting-edge technology and good old-fashioned bebop licks, with samples of speeches by Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Malcolm X sprinkled on most of the tracks. From the martial title cut and Prince riffs to the brilliant blending of John Coltrane and Miles on "Homage & Acknowledgement (Love Supreme/Filles De Kilimanjaro)," Wallace Roney sets his sights high and ascends. --Eugene Holley Jr.