Branford Marsalis Quartet/Terence Blanchard Quintet@The Broad Stage
04.02.11
By George W. Harris

I don’t know which was more encouraging, the fact that bands as
sophisticated as those lead by Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard
can pack two shows in a 500+ seat theatre, or the fact that there’s a
new viable venue for jazz, the acoustically perfect Broad Stage.
Concerning the latter, it was designed by the same people that did The
Disney Hall, so the sound and feel is just superb. They’ve got about
4-5 jazz shows coming up next season, which include Brad Mehldau, Pat
Metheny and Joshua Redman, so these guys are taking the jazz scene
seriously.

But I digress. What went down on this drizzly spring evening was 3
hours of solid and adventurous jazz with absolutely no compromises.
Marsalis lead off with an 1 ½ hour set that started off with music that was
so fresh off the charts that it hadn’t even been titled yet, and then
went on to feature music from his impressive Metamorphosen album.
Teamed with Joey Calderazzo/p, Eric Revis/b and Justin Faulkner/dr,
Branford switched between soprano and tenor, and between standards like
an ebullient “Our Love Is Here To Stay” and a free form improve which
even Marsalis himself had to defend with by explaining, “Trust me,
there were chords in that song!” The remaining tunes spotlighted
Calderazzo’s formidable piano and writing skills, as on the herky jerky
opener and the lushly romantic “The Last Goodbye.” Marsalis himself was
a master of his horns, closing the set with an agonizingly emotional
ballad “Samo” that slowly built up into a cataclysm of sound and
torrent with the enthusiastic rhythms supplied by Revis and Faulkner.
People almost ran for the high ground on the tsunami of sound, it was
so viscerally arresting.

Blanchard, best known for his compositional skills for soundtracks,
focused on music from his latest provocative release Choices, which
included taped sermonettes by philosopher Dr. Cornell West. The musings
preceded tunes such as “Him Or Me” and the title track, which on this
evening served as launching pads for the lyrical and flowing sounds
from Blanchard’s horn, as well as the breathy tenor of Brice Winstone.
The rhythm team of Fabian Almazan/p, Joshua Crumbly/b and Kendrick
Scott/dr was lithe and sleek, able to shift from languid ballads to
finger snapping bop, as on the exciting closing piece, which featured
some marvelous interplay between piano and drums. Lyrical, rhapsodous
music, with something for the mind, body and soul for every fan.

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