Last Monday evening I was sitting here in the office, doing one thing or another on the computer and listening with half an ear to Paul Jones’s weekly rhythm and blues program on BBC Radio 2. I turned my full attention to the radio when I heard the name of jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and when the coming track was introduced as a duet between Marsalis and Willie Nelson, I could hardly believe my ears. Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson?? Hot damn.

I’m a longtime fan of Wynton Marsalis, from way back in his wunderkind days. I saw him in concert once, when I was fifteen, at the University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and that show is one of my very best memories from high school. I may even have developed a bit of a crush on him — all through my teenage years, his was the only picture that ever graced the inside of my locker door.

And Willie Nelson … well, he’s Willie Nelson. Legendary.

Turns out, in what must be one of the most incredibly fantastic collaborations ever, the two of them have released an album of highlights from a two-night gig they played in New York in January of last year. As soon as I heard that, I wasted no time getting to eBay and ordering myself a copy. It arrived in the mail today, and all I have to say is, wow. It’s everything I could have hoped for and more. It’ll be a long time before I take that CD out of my player.