Skip to main content

Branford Marsalis Revels In Jazz's Timeless Challenges On New Album

Saxophonist Marsalis has been leading a quartet for the last 20 years, with only one personnel change; their new album, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, shows they're still going strong.

06:39

Contributor

Related Topics

Other segments from the episode on May 22, 2019

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, May 22, 2019: Interview with Danny Hakim; Review of Branford Marsalis CD; TV preview of "Live in Front of a Studio Audience.'

Transcript

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis has been leading a quartet for the past 20 years with only one personnel change. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the Marsalis Quartet's new album shows they're still going strong.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET'S "LIFE FILTERING FROM THE WATER FLOWERS")

KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Branford Marsalis showing off his burnished tenor saxophone sound, which his other career playing classical music hasn't heard any. Marsalis isn't interested in breaking new ground. As he hears it - and he's not totally wrong - whatever fancy new wrinkle jazz musicians devise, someone else has already done. He's happy with jazz's ageless challenges, like improvising a graceful solo over shifting chords and lively rhythm, being creative while coloring within the lines.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET'S "CIANNA")

WHITEHEAD: That's "Cianna" by pianist Joey Calderazzo, who wrote a couple of tunes for the Branford Marsalis Quartet's album "The Secret Between The Shadow And The Soul." A more playful side emerges on "Dance Of The Evil Toys" by band bassist Eric Revis, who elsewhere mixes with musicians who do seek out new wrinkles. The tune makes some sudden moves. The music gets out there a little but only in passing and almost tongue in cheek.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET'S "DANCE OF THE EVIL TOYS")

WHITEHEAD: Branford Marsalis displaying some other saxophone colors. In the past, he's spoken of the 1970s as a low point for jazz. But apparently, it wasn't a total loss. Here he plays two tunes from that decade, including Andrew Hill's "Snake Hip Waltz." Its nattering repetitions make a good bird-call fit with Branford's piercing tone on soprano sax. And it's a good launchpad for a soloist finally freed from the maddening repeats.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET'S "SNAKE HIP WALTZ")

WHITEHEAD: Justin Faulkner on drums, the band's new guy who joined a decade ago. It's always good to hear a group existing for 20 years that brings so much enthusiasm. Branford Marsalis and company all sound into it and on the same page, as on Keith Jarrett's 1974 earworm "The Windup." There, Marsalis toys with a riff from "Broadway Blues" by Ornette Coleman, a big influence on Jarrett, before restating Jarrett's melody. It's a good way to wind up the album - Branford Marsalis making a knowing connection and whooping it up at the same time.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET'S "THE WINDUP")

GROSS: Kevin Whitehead writes for Point of Departure and The Audio Beat. He reviewed "The Secret Between The Shadow And The Soul," the new CD by the Branford Marsalis Quartet. Coming up, David Bianculli tells us about the live TV broadcast tonight recreating episodes of "All In The Family" and "The Jeffersons." That's after a break. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALLEN TOUSSAINT'S "BRIGHT MISSISSIPPI") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

You May Also like

Did you know you can create a shareable playlist?

Advertisement

Recently on Fresh Air Available to Play on NPR

52:30

Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

43:04

This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

08:26

This Romanian film about immigration and vanishing jobs hits close to home

R.M.N. is based on an actual 2020 event in Ditrău, Romania, where 1,800 villagers voted to expel three Sri Lankans who worked at their local bakery.

There are more than 22,000 Fresh Air segments.

Let us help you find exactly what you want to hear.
Just play me something
Your Queue

Would you like to make a playlist based on your queue?

Generate & Share View/Edit Your Queue