SAT FEB 13 2016
Branford Marsalis CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
PHOTO: Eric Ryan Anderson
“When you play music that is outside of your comfort
zone and you’re forced to actually deal with it, then your comfort zone expands. So then in your soloing, you become less likely to rely on a handful of devices that you have, which some people choose to mark as their identifiable sound. I’ve never been really obsessed with an identifiable sound because I just believe either you have one or you don’t have one. The idea of inventing one by playing five things over and over again was just low on my list.”
– Branford Marsalis (JazzTimes, 2012)
Branford Marsalis Presented by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Concert
8:00pm, Chan Shun Concert Hall
The Branford Marsalis Quartet
Branford Marsalis saxophone Joey Calderazzo piano Eric Revis bass Justin Faulkner drums
Set list will be announced from the stage. There will be no intermission.
Please remember to turn off your phones, and note that photography and recording are not permitted. Thank you!
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PHOTO: Eric Ryan Anderson
Branford Marsalis
saxophone
NEA Jazz Master, renowned GRAMMY award-winning saxophonist and Tony Award nominee Branford Marsalis is one of the most revered instrumentalists of his time and leader of one of the finest jazz quartets today. Growing up in the rich environment of New Orleans as the oldest son of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, Branford was drawn to music along with his siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. His first major gigs were with trumpet legend Clark Terry, and alongside his brother Wynton in Art Blakey’s legendary Jazz Messengers. When the brothers left to form the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, the world of uncompromising acoustic jazz was invigorated. Branford formed his own quartet in 1986 and, with a few minor interruptions in the early years, has sustained the unit as his primary means of expression.
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Branford, however, has not confined his music to the quartet context. In addition to guest turns with a legion of giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins, he has excelled in duets with several major pianists, including his boyhood friend Harry Connick, Jr. and the longtime pianist in his quartet, Joey Calderazzo. In addition, classical music inhabits a growing portion
of Branford’s musical universe. With a repertoire including works by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem, Vaughn Williams, Villa-Lobos and Sally Beamish, Branford is frequently heard with leading symphony orchestras including those in Chicago, Detroit, Dusseldorf, North Carolina and the New York Philharmonic. Broadway has also welcomed Branford’s contributions. His initial effort, original music for a revival of August Wilson’s Fences, garnered a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination. As for other public stages, Branford has toured with Sting, collaborated with the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby, served as Musical Director of The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno, and hosted NPR’s widely syndicated Jazz Set. Branford’s efforts to help heal and rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina mark him as an artist with an uncommonly effective social vision. Together with Harry Connick, Jr. and New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, Branford conceived of and helped to realize The Musicians Village, a community in the Upper Ninth Ward that provides homes to the displaced families of musicians and other local residents. At the heart of The Musicians Village stands the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a community centre dedicated to preserving the rich New Orleans musical legacy.
Joey Calderazzo piano Not only is Calderazzo a longtime member of the celebrated Branford Marsalis Quartet, but his own trio with Donald Edwards (drums) and Orlando LeFleming (bass) has developed into one of the most adventurous outfits in jazz. That’s not surprising given its leader’s pedigree. Calderazzo has burned a celebrated path forward as a composer and accompanist. He has recorded a total of nine solo and trio records, and garnered GRAMMY Awards and various other honorees. He is also an adjunct professor at North Carolina Central University. Even while holding down important piano chairs, Calderazzo has recorded multiple albums as a leader and many more as an accompanist with the likes of Rick Margitza, Bob Mintzer, George Garzone, and Vincent Herring. He has contributed material to Michael Brecker’s Tales from the Hudson and Two Blocks from the Edge, and continues to collaborate with Branford Marsalis. His three Blue Note albums—In The Door, To Know One, and The Traveler—reflect his singularity and musical development. With his rich catalog as an accompanist and leader, Joey Calderazzo is indisputably one of the finest pianists in jazz. He lays it all out; there’s no filter between the musician and the music. Typically being the youngest musician in an established group has made Calderazzo a tough nut, a fearless improviser, and an outspoken individual. 5
Eric Revis bass One of the most talented and accomplished musicians of his generation, GRAMMY Award-winning bassist and composer Eric Revis has, over the past 15 years, become an important voice in jazz. According to Branford Marsalis, “Eric’s sound is the sound of doom; big, thick, percussive.” Scores of musicians across various disciplines agree. Revis has performed and recorded with Betty Carter, Peter Brotzmann, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Steve Coleman, Ralph Peterson, Lionel Hampton, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Cyrille, and Tarbaby—the experimental trio he tri-leads with Orrin Evans and Nasheet Waits. In addition to holding down the bass chair with the Branford Marsalis Quartet since 1997, Revis has also recorded four brilliant albums as a leader. Tales of the Stuttering Mime from 2004 and Laughter’s Necklace of Tears from 2009 both reveal his startling range as a musician and a composer, and a listen to his more recent albums—Parallax and City of Asylum—makes it clear that Revis is a musician informed by his past, but not tethered to it. Conceptually improvisational and thematically broad, Parallax is timeless and borderless. Revis’ approach is one of inclusion, extrapolation and exploration. As on previous recordings, Revis’ playing is personal and distinctive: his tone deep and woody, his execution, agile, melodic and clear. A musical polyglot, Revis is comfortable in any setting, with any direction.
Justin Faulkner
drums
Drummer Justin Faulkner, originally from Philadelphia, has been playing since he was barely old enough to walk. At age three he started beating through the heads of pots, pans, and anything else that would make a sound. This musician was quite literally born to play. Faulkner’s formal education began at the age seven and included studying classical music with Sue Jones, jazz-classical drums and percussion with Samuel Ruttenberg at the Settlement Music School, and instruction with the Principal Timpanist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Don Liuzzi. He entered the jazz scene at the tender age of 13, playing his first professional gig with bassist Jamaaladeen Tacoma. Since then, he has compiled an impressive resume playing with the likes of Peter Nero, Jimmy Heath, Orrin Evans, Sean Jones, Tim Warfield, Bernard Purdie, Pharoah Saunders, Mingus Big Band/Dynasty/Orchestra, Bootsie Barnes, Jacky Terrasson, Terrence Howard, Terence Blanchard, Bilal, Christian McBride, and numerous others.
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In March 2009 Faulkner added the drum chair for the Branford Marsalis Quartet to his list of accomplishments. He currently performs with many ensembles, and leads several of his own. In addition, in 2011 he was appointed as assistant artistic director at the Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts in Philadelphia.
Exploring the role of the arts and artists in society. chancentre.com/connects
A Conversation with Branford Marsalis Moderated by Richard Kurth
This morning at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, Director of the UBC School of Music Dr. Richard Kurth moderated a conversation with saxophonist Branford Marsalis. This event was a UBC Centennial Session, generously supported by the University of British Columbia as part of their 100th anniversary celebrations.
PHOTO: Martin Dee
UBC’s centennial launched in September 2015, 100 years after UBC welcomed their first class, and runs until May of 2016. To find out more about UBC’s centennial and associated events, please visit 100.ubc.ca
“ What we learn, discover, and contribute together will depend
on the strength of our connections – to all of our communities, local and global. This Centennial offers the occasion to celebrate a century of success, and to rededicate ourselves to the goals of an exceptional learning environment, true global citizenship, a civil and sustainable society, and a program of outstanding research, all in the service of the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world. ”
– Dr. Martha C. Piper Interim President and Vice-Chancellor, University of British Columbia 7
Marsalis or Mayfield? How well do you know these two titans of the jazz world? Put your knowledge to the test, then check your answers below. (No google!) 1. Born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. 2. He dropped out of the University of New Orleans’ jazz studies program after the first semester. 3. The Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans is home to a jazz club named after him. 4. He made his debut with the New York Philharmonic on Central Park’s Great Lawn in 2010. 5. His mother was a school teacher in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans. 6. He recently opened the first space built specifically for jazz in the Big Easy, The Peoples Health New Orleans Jazz Market. 7. He appeared as a guest judge on the final episode of the 5th season of Top Chef, which was filmed in New Orleans. 8. The Dave Matthews Band, Sting & The Police, and the Grateful Dead have all shared the stage with him. 9. Los Hombres Calientes, a NOLA-based jazz group that also included Jason Marsalis, was founded by him. 10. Following Hurricane Katrina, he developed the concept for a Musicians’ Village in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward along with Harry Connick Jr., featuring the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music as its centerpiece. Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield performs with Dee Dee Bridgewater and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra at the Chan Centre on Saturday, February 27. Read more at chancentre.com/blog ANSWER KEY: 1.Marsalis 2.Mayfield 3.Mayfield 4.Marsalis 5.Mayfield 6.Mayfield 7.Marsalis 8.Marsalis 9.Mayfield 10.Marsalis
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Upcoming Events at the Chan Centre Full details at chancentre.com Feb 19 & 20 at 8pm: The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Bramwell Tovey Presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Feb 21 at 3pm: Tetzlaff Trio Presented by the Vancouver Recital Society Feb 26 at 8pm: University Singers and UBC Choral Union Presented by the UBC School of Music
Feb 27 at 8pm: Dee Dee Bridgewater and Irvin Mayfield with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Presented by the Chan Centre Feb 28 at 2pm: Gifted Artists Concerto Gala Presented by the Mozart School of Music Mar 5 at 7pm: 22nd Annual UBC Medicine Spring Gala Presented by the UBC Faculty of Medicine
Mar 9 at 7pm: 100 Years WISE: Women in Science and Engineering, Bridging the Past and the Future Presented by the University of British Columbia, A UBC Centennial Session
Mar 11 at 8pm: UBC Symphony Orchestra and UBC Opera Ensemble feat. Edmund Chung Presented by the UBC School of Music
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER AND IRVIN MAYFIELD WITH THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Tell us what you think! We want to hear from you. Please visit chancentre.com/feedback and let us know about your experience tonight. 9
UBC School of Music Fanfares The fanfare that was performed in the lobby prior to this concert (7:30pm and 7:45pm) was commissioned by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts as part of an ongoing partnership with the UBC School of Music and their composition students and performers.
You’ll Come Around “I tried to put a twist on the classic jazzy saxophone quartet by switching up the metre, using unconventional harmonies, and giving it an overall more edgy feel. This piece is for that person in your life who just won’t listen. They’ll come around.” – Chelsea Forster Chelsea Forster is a fourth year composition major at the University of British Columbia. Her pieces have been performed by the Madrigal Singers, UBC Orchestra, and many other instrumental groups as well as published by Mayfair Publishers. She aspires to achieve her Masters and her DMA in Music Composition. Mo Miao Soprano Saxophone Alex Toa Alto Saxophone
Haley Heinricks Tenor Saxophone Mia Gazley Baritone Saxophone
DANCER: SOPHIA LEE | PHOTO: RÉJEAN BRANDT PHOTOGRAPHY
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April 7 - 9 / 2016 at 8pm
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A Family Affair: The Marsalises
By Katherine Neil
In her introduction to the Chan Centre’s 2015/16 season, Co-Managing Director and Chan Centre Presents series curator Joyce Hinton writes, “[this] series features names that have reigned over the music world for decades.” Well, Marsalis is such a name. It’s not just that four of family patriarch Ellis Marsalis’ six children are celebrated jazz musicians, but the extent to which their careers intersect and run parallel, that makes the Marsalis legacy truly “a family affair”. Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason have collaborated on individual songs as well as larger projects, including the Ellis Marsalis and Sons ensemble—formed to mark Ellis’ retirement from The University of New Orleans—and Wynton’s original quintet, of which Branford was a member for three years. Ellis Marsalis, born in 1934, first played the clarinet and the saxophone, but settled on the piano while he was still in high school. His career has been both as a musician and an educator. In the latter role he has had a direct influence on his children; sons Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo were all students of his during his tenure at The New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. At the age of eighty-one, Ellis continues to play with his quintet on Friday evenings at the Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro in New Orleans. Branford Marsalis is the oldest of the jazz-playing Marsalis siblings. His instrument of choice is the saxophone. In an article written for Popular Music and Society in 2000, Mary Ellison refers to Branford as the “...brilliant but less motivated eldest son...” of the Marsalis family. But when one considers Branford’s track record Ellison’s assertion doesn’t quite add up. Branford is a three-time GRAMMY Award winner and NEA Jazz Master, and has performed with the likes of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Sting, and The Grateful Dead. Branford is not content to limit his creative output to a single musical genre. In 1994 and ‘97, he collaborated with DJ Premier to release two albums under the group name Buckshot LeFonque. Some have tried to locate the Buckshot LeFonque sound between jazz and hip hop, but for Branford, attempts to identify influences are reductive: “Musicians like me who listen to and play all kinds of music have to resist the urge to ghetto-ize music. Music is music, and my mission is to try my best to de-ghetto-ize it, to try to take the best from all genres and synthesize them into something different.’” In an interview conducted in 2012 with writer for the Jazz Times Bill Milkowski, Branford talks about his similarly open-minded approach to music production. When Milkowski comments on the quality of the drums on the quartet’s latest album, Four MFs Playin’ Tunes, Branford enthusiastically launches into a description of the approach taken to the album by sound engineer Rob Hunter, formerly of the metal band Raven: 11
“ ...[Rob]understands drums. He quit the road and started working at a metal studio in upstate New York, and that’s where I met him...
[W]hat was amazing to me was I could speak to him in musical terms; most engineers I couldn’t. And finally I said to him, ‘Man, have you ever done a jazz record?’ And he says no. So I sent him 20 jazz CDs and told him, ‘Listen to these and call me when you’re done.’ And we talked about the sound on them and I could tell he actually heard the sound on the records. And I said, ‘That’s my guy!’
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That Branford is an artist who marches to his own beat is evident. Wynton Marsalis is the second-oldest of the jazz-playing Marsalis siblings. Wynton began playing music at the age of eight. By seventeen he became the youngest musician ever to be admitted to Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center. Like Branford, Wynton is committed to keeping the genre of jazz in touch with its varied roots. He has won GRAMMY Awards for both jazz and classical music, and has composed and performed music for quartets, big bands, chamber music ensembles, symphony orchestras, and dance performances. In 1987, Wynton founded the now famous jazz program at Lincoln Center. In March of 2014 he performed at the Chan Centre with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) to a sold-out house. As of that performance, the JLCO had toured nearly four hundred cities in more than thirty-five countries on six continents. Wynton, like his talented brothers, is a rising star seemingly too hot to touch. But he is generous with his time and enthusiasm. After his performance with the JLCO at the Chan Centre he attended a scheduled meet-and-greet with UBC School of Music students. An unofficial, pint-sized guest turned up with trumpet case in hand. Wynton and his management insisted the young boy be included in the meet-and-greet, and Wynton signed the aspiring trumpeter’s instrument case. While Ellis, Branford and Wynton have mastered the piano, the saxophone and the trumpet respectively, Delfeayo rules the trombone. In her article for Popular Music and Society Ellison writes, Delfeayo was not...pushed into being a musician. He was actually “ encouraged by his family to explore his considerable writing skills.
It was not until he wanted to join the school band in the sixth grade that he decided to take up the trombone. He felt an affinity for the subtlety of the slide trombone and related to its connecting influence and to its relatively low profile as a lead instrument.
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But, like his siblings, he refuses to limit the scope of his creative endeavors, and in addition to his career as a musician he is the founder of the Uptown Music Theatre (UMT) company. The UMT produces musical theatre shows with a focus on morality driven narratives and peaceful resolutions for both adult and children audiences.
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Jason Marsalis is the youngest of the jazz-playing Marsalis siblings— younger than Delfeayo by a measure of twelve years. On the Marsalis Music website, he is described as “...the most precociously talented member of the entire family.” Following the stereotype of the rebellious younger sibling, Jason’s instrument of choice is the drums. His parents bought him his first kit (a toy) at the age of three.
A quick Google search proffers websites for Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. But while each of his brothers maintains an online presence with an air of traditional sophistication, Jason’s home page features a cartoon image of himself dressed as a superhero and playing a sort of magical, floating xylophone. Who says jazz can’t accomodate a sense of humour? The Marsalis siblings are leaders in the jazz community, as well as the African American community. The members of the Marsalis family have spoken frequently about the importance of jazz to the African American community, and the struggle to have the significant role that African Americans and African American culture played in the birth of the genre, and continues to play in its development, recognized. In the aforementioned interview with Jazz Times Branford says, [I]f you believe that there are people making decisions about music based “ on cultural ignorance or arrogance, then there is an argument to be made
for that. The whole idea of European jazz is that argument. You have people who say they want to play jazz and at the same time they want to pretend that Black American culture doesn’t even exist and has no part of the discussion.
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Of course jazz is not the only arena in which Black Americans face discrimination. Shocking though it may seem, when Delfeayo was born in 1965, public schools were still segregated in New Orleans. In 1992 Delfeayo released his first album, titled Pontius Pilate’s Decision. According to Ellison: [T]his was very much a concept album...[that] reflected sharply focused “ anger directed at individual proponents of the racism and corruption
endemic in New Orleans...[T]he seeringly aggressive trombone and drum interchanges between Delfeayo and his younger brother Jason on “ Barabbas”...evoke the duplicitous politicking of David Duke, the ex-Ku Klux Klan leader who had been elected to the Louisiana state legislature but resigned to stand as an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in 1991, while running the scurrilously neo fascist and racist National Association for the Advancement of White People.
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The idea that music shouldn’t be ‘ghettoized’ via the application of genre labels (espoused above by Branford Marsalis), and the Marsalis family’s conspicuously open-minded and diverse approach to music-making, can be seen as models for better human relationships moving forward. The mission statement for the JLCO reads: The mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center is to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for Jazz through performance, education and advocacy. We believe Jazz is a metaphor for Democracy. Because jazz is improvisational, it celebrates personal freedom and encourages individual expression. Because jazz is swinging, it dedicates that freedom to finding and maintaining common ground with others. Because jazz is rooted in the blues, it inspires us to face adversity with persistent optimism. Katherine Neil is a UBC Student in the Art History Diploma Program, as well as the Marketing & Communications Assistant at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. This article, with additional links and resources also appears on chancentre.com/blog.
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The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC Joyce Hinton Cameron McGill Jazel Argente Carl Armstrong Wendy Atkinson Brad Danyluk Kara Gibbs David Humphrey Beng Khoo Flora Lew Glenda Makela Trevor Mangion Caitlin McKee Claire Mohun George Pereira Andrew Riter Nadia Roberts Lyndsey Roberts
Co-Managing Director Co-Managing Director Administrative & Rentals Assistant Events & Customer Service Manager Programming & Rentals Manager Head Audio Technician Marketing & Communications Manager Production Manager Operations Clerk Financial Coordinator Financial & Programming Clerk Ticket Operations Manager Artistic Presenting Manager Marketing & Communications Coordinator Production Clerk Head Lighting Technician Events & Front of House Coordinator Ticket Office Supervisor
Members of Cupe 2950 Front of House, Stage, and Ticketing Staff Megan Barnabe Valentina Montilla Katherine Neil
Administration Assistant, Work Learn Student Artistic Presentations Assistant, Work Learn Student Marketing & Communications Assistant, Work Learn Student
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The Chan Centre would like to thank our 2015/2016 series sponsors: The Chan Endowment Fund and the UBC Faculty of Arts
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“If music is good,
it is like love that is real. It doesn’t need analysis to justify it.”
– Branford Marsalis
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 2015)
A SOUND EXPERIENCE Dee Dee Bridgewater and Irvin Mayfield with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra • FEB 27 Anoushka Shankar • APR 8 Arlo Guthrie • APR 21 Cécile McLorin Salvant • MAY 1
Tickets and info at: chancentre.com