Saturday July 19, 05:45 PM

Nelson, Marsalis an odd couple on album chart

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The left-of-center pairing of Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis finds the country and jazz icons cooking up some sweet music -- as well as notching career milestones on their respective belts.

Debuting at No. 20 on the latest Billboard 200 album chart, "Two Men With the Blues" (Blue Note) represents the best debut of Nelson's career, and Marsalis' highest-charting album. (Nelson has had four prior top 20 placements, but none of those started that high.)

Prefacing that story, however, was a marketing campaign focused on one important element: introducing each artist to the other's fan base.

"The unlikely concept of them together might not click right away," says Perry Greenfield, product manager at Blue Note. "But once you hear them together, it makes perfect sense. It's an event record but we also wanted to image it as a fun, loose project that speaks to everyone."

A couple of months before the album's July 8 release, Blue Note serviced an electronic press kit to online outlets. Reviews on various blogs and fan sites and in key print publications (including the New York Times) plus several listening parties (CMT.com was among the hosts) helped spread the word. During the week of release, Blue Note secured mentions of "Two Men With the Blues" during broadcasts of ESPN's "Baseball Tonight."

Adding more grist to the promotional mill: the duo's July 10 performance of the album track and Jimmy Reed classic "Bright Lights Big City" on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and an 11-minute interview segment July 12 on NPR's "All Things Considered."

Coming out of the blue was a last-minute performance by Nelson July 9 at Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl. Stepping in for Natalie Cole, who was recently diagnosed with Hepatitis C, the Red Headed Stranger joined Marsalis on several album selections, including pop standard "Stardust" and the humorous "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It."

Nelson and Marsalis will appear next February at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, one of several concerts being staged for a celebration of Blue Note's 70th anniversary.

Reuters/Billboard