Wynton Marsalis [ tickets ] is releasing a new album March 24 that combines spoken word and music, according to a press release.

The album, "He and She," was inspired by music that explored waltz tempo in a jazz context, including Max Roach's "Jazz in 3/4 Time," along with pieces by Duke Ellington, including "Lady Mac" from "Such Sweet Thunder," Marsalis said in a statement.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, trumpeter and bandleader said he began to think about the waltz as a courtship dance, which at one time was considered to be risque. The resulting album of waltzes, with Marsalis prefacing most tracks, tells the story of a relationship between a man and a woman that actually is a life story--"a bittersweet rumination about the evanescence of life as well as the elusiveness of romance," he said.

"On 'He and She,' it's a man talking, but the person who delivers the universal truth of the matter is a woman," he said.

"He and She" is Marsalis' fifth release on the Blue Note label.