BRANFORD MARSALIS

Born: Beaux Bridge, Louisiana, 26 August 1960

Genre: Jazz

Best-selling album since 1990: Mo' Better Blues (1990)

The early 1990s witnessed the emergence of a new generation of jazz talent steeped in jazz history. Among the most inventive and talented members of this sophisticated generation, Branford Marsalis won recognition in the 1990s for his soprano and tenor saxophone playing. Among his peers, he is the most recognizable jazz saxophonist in the world, having led a house band on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in the early- to mid-1990s.

The sons of Ellis Marsalis, a jazz pianist, Branford and his brothers, Delfeayo and Wynton, who also became distinguished jazzmen, began playing music as children. Unlike Wynton, whose taste in music is rather formal, Branford has always been interested in rock, R&B, and blues. Branford first played alto saxophone, studying it and other instruments at Berklee College of Music. In 1981 he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers but soon moved to a small band led by brother Wynton. Branford then switched to tenor and soprano saxophone. He appeared on recordings by Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie and toured with Wynton's group in the United States, Japan, and Europe. He also appeared on two of Sting's albums, The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985) and . . . Nothing Like the Sun (1987). He toured with Sting and later with Herbie Hancock. Like other members of his generation, such as Wynton and the saxophonist Joshua Redman, Marsalis's early playing drew on classic jazz sax players such as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Charlie Parker. Some critics commented that Marsalis's style was too steeped in these influences and that his early recordings—such as the classic format of Romances for Saxophone (1986) and the hard bebop of Trio Jeepy (1988)—broke no new ground.

Branford Marsalis's recordings of the 1990s answered these critics with fresh creative energy. In 1992 he began a three-year stint as musical director on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, a nightly gig that made him the most recognized member of his jazz generation. During his time on The Tonight Show, Marsalis recorded some of his most memorable music, though he left the show after reportedly tiring of playing second fiddle to Leno. He won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group, in 1993 for I Heard You Twice the First Time, an album that pays homage to blues-jazz fusion. It won wide audiences and critical accolades. The following year he won another Grammy for his performance on Bruce Hornsby's single "Barcelona Mona."

His most inventive album of the 1990s, however, was a rap-jazz fusion project, Buckshot LeFonque (1994), recorded with Gang Starr's DJ Premier. Buckshot LeFonque was, in many ways, the culmination of Marsalis's experiments and appearances with hip-hop and popular music artists such as Public Enemy, the Neville Brothers, and even the Grateful Dead. Fame and recognition led Marsalis to do soundtrack work throughout the decade, first on Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues (1990) and Ken Burns's PBS documentary Baseball (1994). For that massive series, Marsalis collaborated again with Bruce Hornsby on a version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (1995) that was nominated for a Grammy.

Throughout the 1990s, Marsalis produced compelling jazz. His highly acclaimed album Requiem (1998) is notable on several levels. The album was the last recording by pianist Kenny Kirkland, a brilliant musician who died before the record was completed. Requiem also contains seven Marsalis compositions that are both experimental and melodic. Because of Kirkland's death before completion of the album—Marsalis felt his friend and ally could not be replaced—the album sounds rough and unfinished. That less polished sound, ironically, brings Marsalis's vibrant sax playing to life on the album, making the record one of his best.

The late 1990s found Marsalis moving somewhat out of the spotlight and into academic circles. He was awarded an honorary doctorate at Beloit College and teaches in the Jazz Studies department at Michigan State University. Teaching has given Marsalis the opportunity to pursue his wide range of intellectual and artistic interests, including Shakespeare and acting. His recordings continue his exploration of various modes of music. Creation (2000), for instance, finds Marsalis playing with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on classical works by Debussy and Ravel; the album was released the same year Marsalis made recording appearances on albums with Harry Connick Jr., Sting, and Terence Blanchard.

Footsteps of Our Fathers (2002) finds Marsalis again mining the jazz tradition, though he takes risks with startling reinterpretations, some of jazz's most demanding songs. It is a bold album in which Marsalis works through signature tracks forever associated with jazz legends—including Sonny Rollins's "Freedom Suite," John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," and Ornette Coleman's "Giggin." On the album and on the less interesting A Jazz Celebration (2002), recorded with his brothers and father, Marsalis breathes new life into difficult compositions, making them accessible for contemporary audiences.

Once overshadowed by his brother Wynton, Branford Marsalis became the most recognizable jazz instrumentalist of the 1990s. His eclectic range of interests, his attempts to fuse hip-hop and jazz, and his exuberant style have made him one of the most important contemporary jazz talents.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Scenes in the City (Columbia, 1984); Royal Garden Blues (Columbia, 1986); Romances for Saxophone (Columbia, 1986); Renaissance (Columbia 1987); Random Abstract (Columbia, 1987); Trio Jeepy (Columbia, 1989); Crazy People Music (Columbia, 1990); The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (Columbia, 1991); I Heard You Twice the First Time (Columbia, 1992); Bloomington (Columbia, 1993); Buckshot LeFonque (1994); Dark Keys (Sony, 1996); Music Evolution: Requiem (Sony, 1999); Footsteps of Our Fathers (Rounder, 2002); A Jazz Celebration (Rounder, 2002). Soundtrack: Mo' Better Blues (Columbia, 1990).

shawn gillen