Branford Marsalis News

Portland Festival, Take Five: Marsalis-Calderazzo Duo, Brubeckians

Publication: Rifftides
Author: Doug Ramsey
Date: February 29, 2012

MARSALIS AND CALDERAZZO

Parts of Brandford Marsalis’s and Joey Calderazzo’s Sunday concert of saxophone-piano duets suggested the atmosphere of a 19th century recital somewhere in middle Europe. The beauty of Calderazzo’s “La Valse Kendall,” Marsalis’s “The Bard Lachrymose” and the short “Die Trauernde” of Brahms encouraged quiet reflection. These are jazz musicians, however—two of the most adventuresome—and a complete afternoon of stately salon music wasn’t in the cards. The impression they left the capacity crowd in Portland’s Newmark Theater was of good friends enjoying the rewards and risks of spontaneous creation.

Some of the music was from their 2011 album Songs Of Mirth And Melancholy. Calderazzo’s “Bri’s Dance” was, among other things, a reminder of the richness of Marsalis’s soprano sax tone, which is wide and nearly without vibrato. It was also an occasion for Calderazzo to unleash the Bach in his left hand and lead into a round of give-and-take exchanges with Marsalis that gained in both rhythm and precision as the action unfolded. Their performance of “Eternal” was at least as long as the 18-minute one on the 2003 Marsalis quartet album of that name and gave, if anything, an even more intimate tug on the emotions. Calderazzo’s loping 16-bar composition “One Way” has the character of something Sonny Rollins might have thought of in his “Way Out West” days. Marsalis’s tenor playing on it had that playful spirit. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on March 1st, 2012 — 10:35am

Two philharmonics feature jazz soloists

Publication: Today’s Zaman
Author: Alexandra Ivanoff
Date: February 28, 2012

Borusan & Branford: 20th century gems

Aside from the celebrity of American saxophonist Branford Marsalis appearing here in a classical program with the Borusan Philharmonic, conducted by Sascha Goetzel, there was another cause célèbre, in my opinion, at the unusual concert at Lütfi Kırdar Concert Hall on Feb. 23.

The most familiar classical composer in the line-up was Sergei Prokofiev, with other, lesser-known works by film composer John Williams, Sally Beamish, and Erwin Schulhoff. The latter, a Czech whose music was banned by the Nazis and who perished in a German concentration camp in 1942, produced a unique body of work in his short life, and some of it was during his time as a prisoner. Two of his extraordinary compositions shared the spotlight with the soloist of the evening.

Marsalis, a jazz musician from a prominent New Orleans family of jazz musicians and who was the first bandleader on television’s “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, is another one of the few cross-genre musicians able to play as stunningly in classical repertoire as jazz. His formidable musicianship, wherein he executed many styles with suave über-control and tonal luster, took the stage not as a celebrity, but very much as a team player. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on February 28th, 2012 — 01:33pm

Portland Jazz Festival 2012: Branford Marsalis and Joe Calderazzo, a MUSICAL Jazz conversation

Publication: Oregon Music News
Author: Tim Willcox
Date: February 24, 2012

Branford Marsalis. Period. That’s pretty much all you need to say. About as well know as any Jazz musician can possibly be, Mr. Marsalis is no stranger to the limelight that comes from performing around the world with his own various groups or with pop-stars like Sting, not to mention being beamed into millions of homes every night as former musical director of The Tonight Show. The eldest brother of New Orleans’ royal family of Jazz, Branford has remained at the top echelon of Jazz, both as a saxophonist and bandleader for a quarter century.

Joey Calderazzo, while perhaps not a household name, is undoubtedly one of the finest and most well-known pianists in all of Jazz. Mr. Calderazzo came to notoriety and critical acclaim in the late 1980s as pianist for the late, great Michael Brecker. Performing with Brecker for nearly twenty years, Calderazzo was added to Marsalis’ quartet line-up in 1998 after the untimely death of Kenny Kirkland. Since then, the pair have played around the globe thousands of times together in The Branford Marsalis Quartet (BMQ).

They will close out this year’s Portland Jazz Festival on Sunday, February 26, 3pm at the Newmark Theater, $28-$58.

After playing as a duo at various celebrity golf tournaments, the pair booked a gig at the 2009 Newport Jazz Festival. Some serious sparks must have ignited during that performance because the two have now teamed up for a duo recording on Marsalis Music, the record label owned and operated by Branford. The resulting album, Songs of Mirth and Melancholy is full of beauty, space, intimacy, and longing. It’s truly one of the best duo recordings by any pair of musicians in recent memory. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on February 27th, 2012 — 10:16am

Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo To Perform At The Hobby Center

Publication: MusicDoingGood.org
Date: February 15, 2012

NEA Jazz Master, saxophonist and nine-time Grammy® Award Winner Branford Marsalis joins pianist Joey Calderazzo live, on-stage on March 23, 2012, 8 pm at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilkha Hall, 800 Bagby St., 77002. The concert is comprised of selections from their latest CD release, Songs of Mirth and Melancholy. This performance is one in a series of four benefit concerts for Music Doing Good in Schools, an innovative, interdisciplinary, musical arts, after-school enrichment program for students ages 7 to 18 who want to take their skills to a higher level. Ticket proceeds also go to support Music Doing Good’s Musical Instrument Aid and Scholarship Fund.

Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo have mesmerized audiences with their passionate and profound collaboration since the release of their latest album, Songs of Mirth and Melancholy (© Marsalis Music, 2011). Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on February 21st, 2012 — 10:46am

Road Trip! Branford Marsalis + Joey Calderazzo at the Portland Jazz Festival

Publication: Seattle Weekly Blog
Author: Chris Kornelis
Date: February 15, 2012

Last year, Branford Marsalis told Seattle Weekly about “The Problem With Jazz”: why old records sound better than new ones, why the genre feels too much like an exclusive club, and how there’s so little good jazz these days that when he hears something good, “it shocks me.” The interview went viral, sparking myriad Internet debates. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on February 15th, 2012 — 09:29am