BRANFORD MARSALIS

LOUISIANA-BORN, 58-YEAR-OLD SAXOPHONIST BRANFORD MARSALIS HAS ACHIEVED SINGULAR STATUS IN THE WORLDS OF BOTH JAZZ AND CLASSICAL MUSIC. HE CUT HIS TEETH PLAYING HARD-HITTING HARD BOP WITH ART BLAKEY’S JAZZ MESSENGERS, LED THE TONIGHT SHOW BAND, AND KICKED IT WITH THE GRATEFUL DEAD. HE’S TOURED AND RECORDED WITH STING, COSTARRED IN THE SPIKE LEE FILM SCHOOL DAZE (1988), AND MADE HIS CLASSICAL DEBUT WITH THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC PERFORMING GLAZUNOV’S CONCERTO FOR ALTO SAXOPHONE ON CENTRAL PARK’S GREAT LAWN. HE’S APPEARED ON MORE THAN 100 ALBUMS, HAS RECORDED MORE THAN 30 AS A LEADER, AND HAS TAKEN HOME GRAMMY AND NEA Jazz Masters awards. After all that, Marsalis sought peace in the Sun Belt, and now teaches at North Carolina Central University.

Like his younger brother Wynton Marsalis, revered director of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Branford is outspoken about performing, learning, and swinging jazz. He speaks especially eloquently through his mighty Branford Marsalis Quartet. Currently starring pianist Joey Calderazzo, double bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Justin Faulkner, the Quartet has recorded 15 albums of expansive, forward-thinking jazz. But their latest, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul (OKeh Records), is altogether different from their earlier work.

The Branford Marsalis Quartet has always performed with creative wit and terrifying swing—one need only listen to their live, two-CD version of John Coltrane’s entire album (OKeh, 2015, recorded in 2004) to be dazzled by their ferocity. Their latest effort raises the creative stakes to levels few jazz artists can match, adding European influences to the usual blues and swing with soul and depth, and always in service to the music.