jazz masters

Publication: Maryland Gazette.Com
Author: Cody Calamaio
Date: January 18, 2012

After more than a decade of working together in a quartet, Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis and his longtime piano player Joey Calderazzo are setting out on their own. The idea for a duo collaboration album was not born in the studio, but rather on a golf course. 

As amateur golf buffs, Marsalis and Calderazzo often would play together in celebrity tournaments. Sometimes, the organizers would ask the pair to perform something, but Marsalis would beg off with the excuse that there was no acoustic piano on the course.

“One year they invited us and there was a damn piano,” Marsalis recalls. 

Enjoying the music they made together on the green, Marsalis decided to just invite Calderazzo to play with him as a duo at the 2009 Newport Jazz Festival. 

“At the end of that concert in August, I said, ‘Hey, I’m booking studio time,’” Marsalis says.  Read more »

Publication: Lament for a Straight Line
Author: Jim Macnie
Date: February 23, 2011

Steve Smith says Branford Marsalis brought a “gracious poise” to Glazunov’s “Concerto for Alto Saxophone And String Orchestra” last week at a New York Phil show. A few weeks prior, when I sat down with the five Marsalis men who are working musicians, the subject of growing up with the Glazunov cropped up, too. Patriarch Ellis, a longtime educator and superb jazz pianist, ruminated on the rigors of addressing classical works. And then Branford and brother Wynton weighed in with a quip or two. The entire Q&A is coming out in the April issue of Down Beat, due in two weeks. Here’s part of the piece that had to be edited out for space reasons. Read more »

Publication: Jazztimes.com
Author: Lisa DuBois
Date: February 10, 2011

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is recognized as a powerful force in funding Art and is dedicated to artistic excellence in every way .The NEA paves the way for the projects that pass the test on creativity , originality and talent. In four decades they have awarded over 4 billion dollars to exceptional Art Projects in the United States. The NEA was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. In 1995 it was awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre.

The NEA is not limited to Art but also supports music, Musical theatre, Opera and dance. One of the most important accomplishments has been the Jazz Masters program held annually. Read more »

Publication: CBS News.com
Date: January 12, 2011

Jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr.  and four of his

 accomplished musician sons — Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason — have received the highest jazz honour in the U.S.

The National Endowment for the Arts honoured the family of New Orleans musicians as Jazz Masters at a ceremony Tuesday night in New York, at the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater. Read more »

Publication: Jazziz.com
Date: January 6, 2010

Pretty much everyone in the Marsalis family who plays an instrument, from patriarch Ellis on down, will be honored with a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award on January 11 at the Rose Theater of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Award is given to living legends that have made significant contributions to jazz. Certainly the Marsalis’ fit the criteria. Both individually and collectively, they have long been highly visible champions of preserving and expanding jazz through music education, production and musicianship. 

On Monday, January 10 at 1 p.m., the 2011 Jazz Masters will present a panel discussion moderated by A.B. Spellman open to the public on a first come, first served basis in the Varis-Leichtman Studio at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Read more »

Publication: The Louisiana Weekly
By: Geraldine Wyckoff
Date: December 20, 2010

New Orleans musical family dynasties put out and made out in the CD department in 2010. Most of the top albums this year, all of which make for excellent gift-giving opportunities, were released by members of the (in alphabetical order) Andrews, Harrison, Neville and Marsalis families. Other contenders for this year best releases come from the likes of Dr. John and Kermit Ruffins, who one could argue, are dynasties unto themselves. This makes a strong statement about the longevity and continuance that is at the heart of the New Orleans music tradition.

While new styles might dominate or often come and go in other locales, in this city they are more apt to be absorbed and become a new aspect of the heritage. For example, many local hip-hop artists do embrace some of the rhythms and nuances of the music that surrounded them in their childhoods. Read more »