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Branford Marsalis Quartet: Four MFs Playin' Tunes
by Dan Bilawsky
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis has always exhibited a straight-to-the-point attitude in his deeds and musical actions, so the title for his latest quartet date shouldn't come as a great shock. His choice of words matter-of-factly proclaims that this music isn't about highbrow ideals, umbrella themes or hyper-intellectual constructs; this is about four musicians making music and serving the songs. Jazz aficionados know that his albums are almost always a sure bet for brilliance, but fans of this highly ...
read moreBranford Marsalis Quartet: Four MFs Playin' Tunes
by Mark F. Turner
The departure of the Branford Marsalis quartet's longtime drummer, Jeff “Tain" Watts, left a hole that would not easily be filled and subsequently sparked the excellent 2011 duo release Songs of Mirth and Melancholy (Marsalis Music) featuring Marsalis and pianist Joey Calderazzo. But that percussive void has been filled with a transfusion of new blood from the sizzling drums of Justin Faulkner who joined the band in 2009 aged 18. With the attention grabbing title and a fresh outlook, the ...
read moreHarry Connick, Jr.: Music From The Happy Elf
by Dan Bilawsky
"The Happy Elf" is just one of many numbers that Harry Connick, Jr. dished out on Harry For The Holidays (Sony/Columbia, 2003), but this particular song proved to be the seed for cross-marketing manna, which makes it a microcosm of the man himself. Connick has crooned his way into the hearts of millions, proven himself on piano time and again, conquered the silver screen, and taken Broadway by storm, but his most heartwarming talent may be that of “children's entertainer." ...
read moreMiguel Zenon: Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook
by Dan McClenaghan
The cover photo on alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón's Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook is of two people dancing in the middle of a boulevard. They are nicely dressed. The man's coat tail flies and their dance clasp is a passionate embrace, suggestive of a romantic yearning hitched to the side of a good time, a posture suggesting a sense of pride and dignity. And that's what the music on this release is, in large part, all about.On ...
read moreBranford Marsalis / Joey Calderazzo: Songs of Mirth and Melancholy
by Mark F. Turner
The Swedish proverb “Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow," is one that perfectly exemplifies Songs of Mirth and Melancholy, from saxophonist Branford Marsalis and pianist Joey Calderazzo. Their bond has solidified over time, since Calderazzo took over the piano chair from the late Kenny Kirkland in Marsalis' ensemble in 1998. While Kirkland's talent can never be replaced, Calderazzo has proven his own deep abilities as a vital member of the band--and in his own ...
read moreMiguel Zenon: Esta Plena
by David Adler
Like a nimble jet aircraft, Miguel Zenón's Esta Plena leaps into flight from its very first notes. The album arrives not long after Awake (Marsalis Music, 2008), Zenón's jazz quartet/string quartet outing of 2008, but it follows more logically on the heels of 2005's Jíbaro (Marsalis Music), a jazz meditation on the rural music of Zenón's native Puerto Rico. Esta Plena, different but related, finds the alto saxophonist melding authentic plena music with the forward-thinking jazz aesthetic he's developed as ...
read moreMiguel Zenon: Esta Plena
by Mark F. Turner
From the fruits of winning both a MacArthur ("genius grant") and Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008, alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón, expands his clear vision of modern jazz and Puerto Rican folk music in Esta Plena. With an incisive voice, his involvement with the SFJAZZ Collective, Guillermo Klein's Y Los Gauchos and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra is well documented, but his own recordings are what truly reflect his unique heritage and identity. Where Zenón's Jibaro (Marsalis Music, 2005) ...
read moreBranford Marsalis Quartet: Metamorphosen
by Jeff Stockton
Branford Marsalis has always had contrarian tendencies. From joining Sting's band to quitting The Tonight Show, he's followed his own path, even when his motivations have moved him away from conventional jazz forms. Today, being the artistic director of his own record label (at a time when record labels are floundering) and playing with the same band mates for the last decade (at a time when keeping anything together for 10 years seems unlikely) simply appear to be the next ...
read moreClaudia Acuna: En Este Momento
by David Adler
It's been roughly five years since Chilean vocalist Claudia Acuña released Luna (MAXJAZZ, 2004), a brilliantly conceived meeting of minds with pianist/co-producer/co-composer Jason Lindner, her strong ally coming up in the New York Smalls scene of the '90s. In the interim, Acuña made In These Shoes (ZOHO, 2008), an overtly Latin-pop collaboration with pianist Arturo O'Farrill, plus inspired guest appearances on David Gilmore's Unified Presence (RKM, 2006) and Joey Calderazzo's Amanecer (Marsalis Music, 2007). En Este Momento represents a long-awaited ...
read moreMiguel Zenon: Awake
by Tom Greenland
From its very first notes (played by a string quartet), Awake is identifiably Miguel Zenon: lyrical, spiritual and original. For his fourth date as a leader Zenon reunites his go-to posse--Luis Perdomo (piano) and Hans Glawischnig (bass)--but with a key change in the drum chair, Henry Cole replacing Antonio Sanchez. The strings are artfully employed on the opener as a contrapuntal foil for Zenon's featherlight interweavings and on “Lamamilla" as a trilling texture evoking birdcalls; Tony Malaby, ...
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