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Michael Carvin: The Making of a Master

Publication: AllAboutJazz.com
Author: Bob Kenselaar
Date: July 30, 2012

With a career that spans half a century, master drummer Michael Carvin has plenty to look back on, although he’s mostly a forward-looking man. To say he’s been prolific puts it mildly. By his own count, he’s made some 250 recordings and toured the world five times. He has worked with such major jazz luminaries as Jackie McLean, Dizzy Gillespie, Pharaoh Sanders, and Freddie Hubbard, among many others, in addition to fronting his own bands and recording ten albums as a leader. His strong influence on jazz drumming is clear through his long teaching career as well, both through the Michael Carvin School of Drumming he founded in the early 1970s and through work at Rutgers University, the University of Hartford, the New School, and elsewhere. He estimates that he’s taught as many as 300 students, notably including Camille Gainer, Allison Miller, Ralph Peterson, Eric McPherson, E.J. Strickland, Kim Thompson, and Max Tucker.

Carvin clearly feels at home in just about any musical context, and he has a very holistic view of music, preferring not to use terms and labels that compartmentalize it. His early professional experience included stints with Motown Records and blues icon B.B. King, and he has fond memories of being drum captain in his high school marching band. In his long career in jazz, his work has ranged from the avant garde to straight ahead and much that lies in between. His own last two records albums reflect both ends of that spectrum—the explorative Lost and Found Project 2065 (Mr. Buddy, 2010) and the swinging, post-bop Michael Carvin, part of the Marsalis Music Honors Series (Marsalis Music, 2006). Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on August 10th, 2012 — 08:47am

Strictly New Orleans, and all that jazz…

Publication: Louisiana Weekly
Author: Geraldine Wyckoff
Date: August 6, 2012

Joy is such an essential element of jazz. It is the dynamic that elevates the interaction between musicians – their obvious thrill of communicating – and the listeners being thankful for being in its presence. So when you have Four MFs Playin’ Tunes as on this disc from saxophonist’s Branford Marsalis Quartet, the music rules and the musicians deliver.

The album kicks off with warmth and playfulness on longtime Marsalis associate, pianist Joey Calderazzo’s composition, “The Mighty Sword.” It moves at a fast, be-boppin’ pace, with the pianist seemingly owning the tune. Marsalis jumps in with his horn offering a rather sweet tone while the band with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner, the newest member of the group making his first recording with Marsalis, provides superb support.

Thelonious Monk fans can dig the staggering rhythmic elements of Revis’ contribution, “Brews,” that are echoed in Monk’s classic, “Teo,” later in the disc. New Orleanians will, perhaps, be curious as to how Marsalis will interpret the locally-referenced tune, “Endymion.” Curiously, it has an almost classical feel at the beginning with Calderazzo displaying a certain refinement. Marsalis musically provides the cacophony of Carnival – its exuberance, its drive – on a solo that celebrates the holiday and life. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on August 9th, 2012 — 02:21pm

Branford Marsalis: Four MFs Playin' Tunes - review

Publication: The Guardian
Author: John Fordham
Date: August 2, 2012
Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on August 9th, 2012 — 10:57am

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Four MFs Playin' Tunes (2012)

Publication: AllAboutJazz.com
Author: Mark F. Turner
Date: July 31, 2012
Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on August 9th, 2012 — 10:59am

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Four MFs Playin' Tunes (Marsalis Music)

Publication: Offbeat
Author: John Swenson
Date: August 1, 2012

It’s been roughly 100 years since the uniquely American music that came to be known as jazz was being codified on the streets of New Orleans. This music has shown a remarkable ability to adapt to changing times, evolve into different forms and eventually migrate to all parts of the globe. It also has such malleability that cultural historians have been arguing about how to name it for more than half of its lifetime. Branford Marsalis, always a glib thinker, doesn’t quibble about nomenclature. In his refreshingly direct manner, Marsalis titled his new album Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes.

The music has produced an unending string of virtuoso players, which creates its own dilemma. No matter how well you play your instrument(s), someone else out there is as good or better, so becoming top dog is not only about technique and chops but about intangibles like vision, attitude and emotional depth. One of the things that set Marsalis apart is his fearless attitude, his willingness to let the music carry him wherever it will. If he had only taken his diploma from the Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers College of hard bop and led his quartet, he would almost certainly be a lesser figure than he is today. But Marsalis pushed his music into unfamiliar, some would say unworthy, areas— joining Sting’s band, taking over the musical director’s chair for the Tonight Show, jamming with the Grateful Dead and forming the hybrid band Buckshot LeFonque.

Meanwhile he worked hard at both composition and concept. On one hand he’s developed an ambitious program to play with European-style “classical” orchestras; on the other he’s taken on the legacy of John Coltrane, performing his version of American classical music by recording A Love Supreme. He ran the Columbia Jazz A&R department long enough to sign the brilliant saxophonist David S. Ware, but stayed only long enough to realize the only label he could work with was his own. Accordingly, he left and formed his own imprint, Marsalis Music.

In this larger context, Marsalis is able to treat his quartet as the sounding board for his ideals, the roots of a vision that encompasses a larger world. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on August 9th, 2012 — 09:46am