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Branford Marsalis & Joey Calderazzo: Face on the Barroom Floor

By Scott Lichtman
October 11, 2024
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On "Face on the Barroom Floor," the duo of Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo pay tribute to Wayne Shorter by distilling one of Shorter's most beautiful pieces into its essentials. The sentiment might be interpreted as "a lovelorn individual drinks himself into forgetfulness. We hope for a happier future for him." Marsalis and Calderazzo take the original arrangement, performed by Weather Report, and leave only the piano and soprano saxophone, playing them plaintively with sparse block chords and a honking wail. The track highlights Shorter's unique, later compositional style, clustering melody lines into short flurries of notes and reframing the notes in a chord to deftly shift tonal centers, surprising the listener.

For further insight into this piece, read Wikipedia's description of the 1872 poem of nearly the same name (an inspiration for the song?), in which the drinker ultimately dies of a broken heart.

Contact Scott Lichtman on All About Jazz.
Jazz/fusion keyboardist & autograph collector in Stamford CT.

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