All press News

In Cape May, the show must go on

Publication: WHYY Newsworks
Author: Jen A. Miller
Date: November 7, 2012

In August 2005, Michael Kline and his son packed up their belongings and drove straight through the night from New Orleans to Cape May, N.J.

The morning after they arrived in N.J., Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans. 

“Maybe I’m bringing them with me,” he said after living through both Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in Cape May, where Kline had spent his childhood summers and lived full time from 1983 to 1992.

He also hopes he’ll bring some positive New Orleans history and flavor to the Jersey Shore with the first Exit Zero International Jazz Festival, which will take place in Cape May this weekend.

While the town was largely spared Sandy’s wrath, the musicians playing in the festival have not. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on November 8th, 2012 — 11:03am

Branford Marsalis returns to Holland

Publication: Omaha World-Herald
Author: Kevin Coffey
Date: November 8, 2012

The last time Branford Marsalis was in town, he stopped in to jam with some friends.

The time before that, the jazz master helped open the Holland Performing Arts Center.

On Friday, Marsalis and his quartet will come back to the venue to play music from his new album, “Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes,” as well as old favorites.

“We go all over the place. It depends on the audience, what they can listen to,” he told The World-Herald. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on November 8th, 2012 — 11:28am

Like It Is

Publication: JazzTimes
Author: Bill Milkowski

 To say that Branford Marsalis is forthcoming is an understatement. In an age when athletes, politicians and public figures have all been schooled in the art of saying nothing but innocuous platitudes intended to offend no one and reveal nothing, the three-time Grammy winner unapologetically speaks his mind. A veritable quote machine, he spews pointed statements like a verbal Gatling gun.

Being approachable, talkative and extremely opinionated makes Marsalis an ideal interview subject. Essentially, all you have to do is press the “record” button, toss in an occasional query, stand back and let him roll. And he never disappoints. Ask him anything and the ideas—grounded in logic, full of intelligence and wit and brimming with a daredevil disregard for the run-of-the-mill—come cascading off his tongue without hesitation, like his much-vaunted tenor and soprano sax playing.

On the day of this phone interview, the eldest of the five Marsalis brothers was at his home in Durham, N.C., preparing for a classical recital at the Beethoven Festival in Winona, Minn. His new quartet outing, the wryly titled Four MFs Playin’ Tunes (Marsalis), had just come out. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on November 7th, 2012 — 11:33am

A Few Words with Branford Marsalis

Publication: DANSR.com
Author: Sean Packard
Date: November 2, 2012

NEA Jazz Master and Grammy Award®-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis has established himself as a world class artist – both jazz and classical, as a bandleader, composer, and as head of the Marsalis Music Record Label.  Marsalis leads one of the finest jazz quartets today, and performs frequently as a classical soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and the New York Philharmonic.   Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on November 5th, 2012 — 12:40pm

JAZZ 2K: CD Picks of the Week

Publication: Nippertown!
Author: J Hunter
Date: October 19, 2012

BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET
Four MFs Playin’ Tunes
(Marsalis Music)

“Nothing to see here; everything’s under control.” That’s the underlying message of the title to the first Branford Marsalis Quartet disc without longtime drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. That’s a big loss to the bottomless musical hive-mind that is the BMQ, but between their rip-snorting Proctors show in February and the cockeyed bop that drives MFs whirling opener “The Mighty Sword,” it sounds like 20-year old wunderkind Jason Faulkner has been assimilated just fine, thank you very much. He bubbles and bashes and bangs, while volcanic pianist Joey Calderazzo shows he’s light-years from the time when he was “that new guy” who replaced the late Kenny Kirkland. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on October 25th, 2012 — 09:03am