Jazz Belongings and Other Adventures

Jazz bands come and go, coalesce and dissipate, by the very fluid nature of artistic enterprise as well as the particularly fickle nature of the jazz business model. But some endure, such as the Branford Marsalis Quartet, which has essentially been going strong for three decades now.

Despite that longevity factor, the group has only occasionally graced Santa Barbara with its lively presence — at Campbell Hall and the Lobero Theatre — but each time, we are reminded of the elements that keep this project relevant and its driving sense of game. 

We were reminded once again of that still relevant and potent legacy last week at the Lobero, when this Marsalis, potent on tenor and soprano saxophones, held forth with allies Joey Calderazzo on piano, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Justin Faulkner. (Faulkner, incidentally, is the “new kid on the block” in the unit, having taken over the spot originally held by Jeff “Tain” Watts in 2009, when Faulkner was all of 17).

These men, suited up for the occasion but in a more casual way than younger brother Wynton’s sartorial dress code, delivered the alternately steamy and lyrical goods we’ve come to expect. They may be veterans, but the band’s outlook is anything but jaded. 

This is not a band to be easily pigeonholed. If falling roughly into or rising out of a post-hard-bop format, the group freely wanders between sub-styles and jazz historical reference points. At the Lobero, they dipped into their latest archival leaning, a personalized redux of music from Keith Jarrett’s classic 1974 album Belonging, as well as some ‘20s vintage jazz manners via the Paul Whiteman Orchestra’s “There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth the Salt of My Tears” and a respectful but juiced-up Duke Ellington medley for an encore.

Belonging music, from their latest album, consisted of Jarrett’s glowing ballad “Blossoms” — with an especially spacious and subtle piano solo by Calderazzo — and the melodic serpentine fire of “’Long as You Know You’re Living Yours.” (Trivia note: This is the tune, laid out by Norwegian Jan Garbarek, that Jarrett found a little too close for comfort when he heard the opening sax melody on Steely Dan’s “Gaucho,” and successfully sued to be added to the song’s songwriting credits) One could quibble with the quartet’s approach to what is a bonafide jazz milestone recording, but they meant well. 

From the original fount of tunes in the songbook, the music ranged from Calderazzo’s ballad “Conversation Among the Ruins,” with its late ‘60s California vibe, and Revis’s edgier set-closer “Nilaste,” with a more mercurial and adventurous structure than the rest of the set. With this tune, the band showed its more challenging side, from the chance-taking pen of Revis, who has worked in more avant-garde-esque settings with the trio Tarbaby and with Peter Brötzmann and Kris Davis. The bassist supplied a fiery solo, contrasting with the more restrained, focused playing on other material; likewise, drummer Faulkner cut loose in a powerhouse tête-à-tête duet with Marsalis. They can go there, too.  

Marsalis’s band takes itself seriously on many levels, including the importance of treating each performance as a forum for fresh, meaningful improvisational energy and band interaction. But they also embrace the fun factor in the process, perhaps embodied in the teasing but truthful title of their 2012 album Four MFs Playin’ Tunes, from which Calderazzo’s spirited tune “The Mighty Sword” was tapped at the spirited show-opener. 

As heard last week at the Lobero, these four MFs are actively keeping the torch of jazz alive, generally, and this quartet specifically.