Tag Archives: vibes

Good vibes from Jason Marsalis at Jazz Showcase

by Howard Reich
Chicago Tribune
November 21, 2014
What else does drummer Jason Marsalis play? Vibes, and quite well.

Listeners often think of Jason Marsalis first as Wynton Marsalis’ younger brother and second as a New Orleans drummer.

But like his siblings – including saxophonist Branford and trombonist Delfeayo – Jason stands as a first-rate musician-bandleader in his own right. He also happens to be a fine vibraphonist, as he reaffirmed Thursday night at the Jazz Showcase. Leading the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet, he delivered original compositions and standards with elegance and grace, evoking a legendary ensemble that’s clearly a model for him: the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Nowhere were the parallels between the two units more apparent than in Marsalis’ “Characters,” from his “In a World of Mallets” album of 2013. For starters, the piece unfolded gently, at a relaxed tempo and with an easy but imperturbable sense of swing one associates with the MJQ. Drummer Dave Potter’s deft brushwork brought a nocturnal atmosphere to the proceedings, while Marsalis’ sinuous melodic lines and ultra-sophisticated chord progressions attested to his skills as composer. In many ways, Marsalis’ “Characters” showed the influence of ballads by MJQ pianist John Lewis, but with an unpredictability of line that proved to be a Marsalis signature throughout this performance.

The vibraphonist’s phrase-making was decidedly more animated in “The 18th Letter of Silence,” from Marsalis’ newly released album, “The 21st Century Trad Band.” Like most of Marsalis’ compositions, this piece bristled with melodic invention, the vibraphonist emphasizing linear playing, sharp instrumental attacks and irrepressible rhythmic urgency. Pianist Austin Johnson, bassist Will Goble and drummer Potter stayed with the leader in some of the most hard-driving music of this set.

“Blues Can Be Abstract, Too” crystallized Marsalis’ views on tradition and innovation, the vibraphonist drawing upon blues conventions but updating them with idiosyncratic turns of phrase and a complex overall structure. Here was the Marsalis Vibes Quartet at its most tautly controlled, the vibist presiding over a meticulously conceived arrangement in which each musician’s contributions emerged right on cue.

But no two pieces in this set conveyed the same sensibility, which underscored the many musical curiosities that drive Marsalis’ work. In his “Ballet Class,” the formalities and harmonies of classical music dovetailed with nascent ragtime rhythm. Jason Weaver’s “Blues for Now,” from “The 21st Century Trad Band” album, inspired Marsalis to take an orchestral approach to his instrument, the vibraphonist carefully layering themes and colors through the course of the work.

Some of the most ethereally beautifully music of the evening emerged in “Love Always Comes as a Surprise,” which originated in – of all places – the film “Madagascar 3.” Marsalis produced florid improvisation here, developing the tune’s underlying harmonies in softly shimmering tones.

There were standards, too, Marsalis letting “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)” speak sweetly for itself, the tune slightly embellished but delivered without pretense. When it came to an uptempo version of “You and the Night and the Music,” however, Marsalis took flight, his brisk tempo setting the stage for deep swing rhythm and intelligent transformation.

In none of this music, however, was instrumental virtuosity presented as a goal. So though there’s no shortage of jazz vibraphonists who show more technical wizardry (Stefon Harris) or innovative audacity (Jason Adasiewicz), the musicianship, seriousness and tonal beauty of Marsalis’ art were unmistakable.

To him, it’s all about the music, not the musician, a point he reiterated in his arrangement of Cliff Hines’ “Interzone,” with its gripping repeated-note theme and his four-mallet chordal voicings. By the end of the set, Marsalis had covered more musical facets, forms and expressions than one typically encounters in a single evening, and it’s a good bet there’s more where that came from.

Youngest Marsalis brother brings his jazz vibes and quartet to Berea

by Walter Tunis
LexGo
November 8, 2014

Jason Marsalis received his formal introduction to the drums at the age of 3. That’s when his parents, the household heads of the famed Marsalis family that changed the face of jazz beginning in the early ’80s, bought him a toy kit.

He also studied violin at 5 years old. But Marsalis’ current instrument of choice, the supremely cool vibraphone, was still years away from making an entrance into his life.

“I first got a set of vibes while in high school but I didn’t seriously start to do performances on it until around 2000,” said the youngest of the Marsalis brothers, who performs a free convocation concert with his Vibes Quartet on Thursday at Berea College. “It’s an instrument I’ve worked on bit by bit.

“The first appeal, honestly, was the fact that there have not been a lot of vibraphonists in jazz music compared to the number of horn players. The second appeal was that there were a lot of possibilities that just haven’t been explored with the instrument. Also, there’s the fact that it’s a percussion instrument, just like drums. But now we’re dealing with an instrument that produces actual notes and melody.

“Since I had already studied violin and already studied music to that level, I thought it would be great to play an instrument that expresses my understanding of melody and harmony.”

One would think jazz music of any style would have surrounded Marsalis during childhood, especially with older siblings Branford (a saxophonist), Wynton (a trumpeter) and Delfeayo (a trombonist) in the house. But the reality is that for much of his upbringing, they weren’t around.

“Because I was born so late, they were all out of the house by the time I was 6 years old. My brothers were all musicians who were serious about their craft and learning as much as they could. So what I learned from my brothers and my father (veteran New Orleans pianist Ellis Marsalis) was to learn all the music I could to become a better musician as well as a more knowledgeable one.”

Although the youngest Marsalis had racked up considerable roadwork experience by the age of 9, it was his role as drummer in the trio of pianist Marcus Roberts beginning in 1994 that garnered attention from jazz audiences around the world. Marsalis still plays regularly with Roberts around his own band projects.

“I met Jason when he was 7 or 8,” said Roberts prior to his September concert at the Opera House. “He started working with me, I think, in November of ’94, so it’s now been 20 years. So I just think the world of Jason. He is a brilliant mind. He’s also a fantastic drummer, in my opinion, the greatest in a generation.

“Jason represents what you want to see when you mentor somebody. What you really want to see is that one day they end up knowing more about what you thought you taught them than you do. In other words, at this point, he’s teaching me about drums.”

Of course, on Thursday, Marsalis won’t be playing drums. He will be manning the vibes for the sleek new tunes from his quartet’s new album, The 21st Century Trad Band.

“Really the sound and concept of the group started to gel about six years ago and has been evolving ever since. But the reason why the group spirit is so strong is really quite simple. It’s because the musicians want to play this music. They believe in working together and achieving the highest level possible to play music. But they also just love to play live.”

The politics of Jazz

by Bill DeYoung
Connect Savannah
August 31, 2010

In New Orleans music circles, if your last name is Marsalis (or, for that matter, Neville) you have a reputation to live up to.

Jason Marsalis is well aware that his family name carries certain expectations. The youngest of Ellis and Delores Ferdinand Marsalis’ six sons, the spotlight swung to him when he began playing jazz professionally at the age of 12. He’s 33 now, and clear of the shadow of his famous dad – and of his brothers Wynton, Delfeayo and Branford.

He’s an expressive, innovative drummer, and composer, and a restlessly creative musician, and on Sunday he’ll introduce a new quintet at a concert inside the Mansion on Forsyth Park. With this group, Marsalis plays the vibraphone.

(The Jason Marsalis Quintet also has a gig Friday and Saturday nights at the Jazz Corner in Hilton Head.)

Recently, heads turned and eyes bugged when Marsalis made a tongue–in–cheek “public service announcement,” in the form of an online video, in which he railed against “Jazz Nerds International,” young musicians who are into pushing the boundaries of jazz for what he believes are all the wrong reasons.

Your mantra has always been “jazz has got to keep moving forward.” What do you mean?

Jason Marsalis: If anything, there are probably those who are accusing me of trying to move it backwards right now!

I’ve caused a lot of buzz lately in the jazz world because of this Internet video. The thing about it is, the music is always going to move forward. It may not be in mainstream culture right now, but it’s always going to move forward, and there’s always going to be people bringing in other ideas. So it’s going to happen whether we want it to or not.

The video has to do with music students who reduce the music of jazz to an intellectual exercise. And they’re only attracted to the abstract elements of the music. That’s all it is.

For example, if a nerd was to hear the music of James Brown, their response would probably be “Oh, this has two chords. So what?” They’re not gonna get that there’s a strong groove, and that there’s people dancing to it. All they want to hear is the complex elements while ignoring the simple elements.

There’s music students like that all the time.

That’s the opposite of what music is, don’t you think? It’s supposed to make you feel.

Jason Marsalis: Exactly. My whole point is that there’s a lot of things that jazz music can do, and will do. Whether it has to do with swingin’ out, or a groove, or a ballad, or mellow or angry, there’s a lot of emotions that the music has. My view is that all of those moods should be explored.

But the nerd tends to look at one thing: How can we play as abstract and innovative as possible, and we’re not interested in anything else. Because it’s already been done, and we need to move on as quick as possible.

Why did you start playing vibes? You’ve described the instrument as “melodic percussion” – was it a logical step from the drums?

Jason Marsalis: I wanted to do it because there was a lot with vibes that hadn’t been said. There’s a lot that has been contributed, but there’s much more to be done. There haven’t been as many jazz vibraphonists as there have been jazz trumpet players, or jazz saxophonists, or jazz pianists.

There’s other possibilities with that instrument that you cannot explore on drums. Now I will say that on drums, there’s vocabulary that can be contributed in terms of rhythm, and in terms of space – which not a lot of drummers are really addressing.

But with vibes, there’s a lot that you can do with a melody that you can’t do with drums. A lot of the songs that I write for my vibes group, it’s different from the music I write if I’m playing drums leading a group. Because I have the melody, and I have to be sure I’m playing the melody correctly. With drums, that isn’t the case.

Why do you think some people find a direct line to music, as opposed to, say, dreaming of becoming a doctor or some other career?

Jason Marsalis: The stories I’ve heard are that I was into music as a kid, I mean age 3. According to my parents, I was just loving music as a toddler.

As I grew up, my brothers were making records – and I actually liked those records – and after a while I started to love the drums. And I wanted to play the drums.

I was around it a lot, but I believed it and I wanted to contribute something to it.

And being in the city of New Orleans, there’s a lot of music and culture that isn’t available in other places. In defense of those jazz nerds, they don’t get a lot of access to jazz as a fun music; jazz as a way to make people dance.

You had a family name to live up to. Did your parents ever say “Aw, you’re just the little brother”?

Jason Marsalis: Not in the music sense. Now, in the life sense, that’s a little bit of a different story!

I think it’s because I played a rhythm section instrument. So if anything, that was seen as being different from Wynton and Branford. From what I was told.

That’s one. Two, I had the belief and talent in music at a very early age.

Jason Marsalis’s T.O. headlining debut

Career delayed by Hurricane Katrina, brother Jason back on track with vibes, drums

by Ashante Infantry
Toronto Star
January 10, 2008

His home only suffered minor damage, but 2005’s Hurricane Katrina had a more consequential impact on Jason Marsalis’s career.

The drummer-vibist, the youngest of the four performing Marsalis brothers, had big plans that fall for the record label he runs with his pianist-educator dad.

“He was going to put a record out, I was going to come out with something; Katrina just wiped all that out,” said Marsalis, 30, in a recent phone interview from his renovated New Orleans home.

Even if the devastating storm hadn’t uprooted them – Marsalis to Jacksonville, Fla., then New York, his parents to Baton Rouge, La. – and focused their attention and finances elsewhere, recording just wasn’t feasible.

“Musicians and engineers that I was going to use, they were all over the place. The studio we used to record at was gone. Fortunately, none of the music got lost, but that kind of delayed things for a few years.”

With only a couple CDs under his own name, Marsalis, who has proven an adept sideman, accompanying the likes of pianist Marcus Roberts, saxist John Ellis and trombonist brother Delfeayo, makes his Toronto headlining debut at Trane Studio tomorrow night to kick off the inaugural Fair Trade Organic Coffee Jazz Concert Series.

The musician, who teaches fulltime at the renowned New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, began playing drums professionally at 14 and has also been performing on vibes since 2000.

“It was actually my father’s idea to explore it, because it was melodic percussion. It’s a very challenging instrument. If you miss one note it sticks out a lot more than any other instrument.”

He’ll play two separate Toronto shows, one on drums, the other on vibes, in sets comprised of standards and originals.

“One of the things I’m going to try to develop over time is music that has not been played on vibes, but sounds great on the instrument,” he said, citing compositions by drummer Winard Harper and a Brazilian musician.

The Crescent City resident credits his hometown for nurturing his musical explorations.
“In New Orleans, I could just start doing a gig every Monday and this is when I was not good at all. I could just do a gig at a small place on a Monday night with not a lot of publicity, no major reviews … just start playing, and then after while I started gigging with other people in the city.”

He describes a small, vibrant music enclave that he’s never felt the need to decamp for bigger parts to benefit his music or career.

“There was always a lot of opportunity in New Orleans for me. Plus, I was already travelling a lot anyway, so I was never interested in living somewhere else,” he says.

“I’m going to be honest, and this is probably controversial, but someone needs to say it: Really, New York being the big time as far as jazz music is concerned is actually over, because the major labels aren’t signing jazz and a lot of the jazz legends that were in New York, unfortunately, have died off now.

“It’s a great city and there’s a lot of music, but it’s not what it used to be. Ironically enough though, New Orleans is a better learning town. The community is a little smaller and it’s easier to get around and there’s other music that you can learn, like a lot of the traditional jazz music, R&B, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music. Those kinds of things go on here. New Orleans has always been a great learning town.”