Branford Marsalis - Requiem

With this release Branford is in reflective, emotive and expressive mode. He has replaced his driving and funky jazz sound with something more individual and searching. One is reminded of the more reflective side of Coltrane's output from the early 60's - Alabama for instance. This is where Branford really works best in my opinion. He displays a compositional capability which articulates and develops his ideas to a degree beyond other jazz musicians and the result is deeply satisfying and moving.

This music has hit all of my hot buttons - it's creative but still accessible, the sound is fantastic, expecially Branford's sax, and the ensemble playing is superb. It is immediately apparent that the quality of the compositions, all but one by Marsalis, is outstandingly high. All of the compositions sound excellent especially "Trieste" and "A Thousand Autumns".

Marsalis has managed to create music which is truly expansive and original (at least to my ears) and which has a natural flow and progression. The musicians are excellent; of particular note is Kenny Kirkland who makes a strong contribution to the production. In addition the quality of the recording is high.

I cannot recommend this music highly enough. Just go and buy it!

On the flipside though, this cd also illustrates what Branford and his various bands usually do best, the power-swing of songs like DOCTONE, the swinging funk of BULLWORTH, or the swirling melodic beauty of LYKIEF, on which Kenny Kirkland plays absolutely brilliantly! This version kills the version on THE DARK KEYS, mainly because Kenny isn't on that one and he is on this one. He really makes all the difference in the world for this song.

I think people who judge Branford and his bands against bands like Coltrane's classic bands are sort of missing the point. Branford isn't trying to write and perform Gods music. I think what he is trying to do is to explore rhythm to his fullest extent, and on this subject he and his bands excell. Branford and Tain together are a power-duo of rhythmic versatility and telepathy, and as on this cd, Kirkland is right there playing off of every idea, every phrase, every time-shift.

No, this cd wasn't finished when Kenny died, and no I haven't heard CONTEMPORARY JAZZ enough yet to fully digest it, but I can't imagine it is as good as REQUIEM. I've seen the new band in concert and so far it has never been as good as the Kirkland band. Joey Calderazzo has more chops than emotional depth and his playing just does not have the lyrical flow and love-spirit that just drips out of almost everything Kenny Kirkland played. In a word, Calderazzo is rather boring. And in a word, Kirkland was rather fantastic.

I guess what I'm saying is this... If you aren't a fan of Branford Marsalis then you will not like this cd, but if you are a fan of his you'll probably end up thinking this is one of his very best cd's.