Justin Faulkner

Jazz Master Branford Marsalis Serves Up Variety at CSUN Valley Arts Center

Publication: Northridge Patch
Author: Barry Garron
Date: February 3, 2013

When he recorded his most recent CD, Four MFs Playin’ Tunes, Branford Marsalis said he just wanted to play the best of what’s out there, no matter who wrote it. He took the same approach to the selections performed during An Evening with Branford Marsalis on Saturday night at CSUN’s Valley Performing Arts Center.

Though his quartet played only seven numbers in the hour and three quarters they held the stage, their choices revealed the breadth of talent encompassed by these extraordinary jazz musicians.  New songs, old songs, songs by masters, songs of their own composition—nothing was off-limits for saxophonist Marsalis, a three-time Grammy winner, and the three other members of his quartet: Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass and Justin Faulkner on drums. Read more »

Branford Marsalis At Jorgensen

Publication: The Hartford Courant
Author: Owen McNally
Date: January 31, 2013

Still soaring on the propulsive power and high-octane creativity of one of his best and brightest releases in awhile, saxophonist/composer Branford Marsalis sets down with his hard-swinging but sensitive quartet Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Connecticut’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.

An Evening with Branford Marsalis and the Branford Marsalis Quartet,” as the swinging Storrs jazz soiree is called, features the NEA Jazz Master and Grammy Award- winning warrior collaborating with his fine, empathetic pianist Joey Calderazzo, big-toned bassist Eric Revis and his young, sensational drummer, Justin Faulkner.

An evening’s worth of the catalytic, collaborative mix of Marsalis and Calderazzo just by itself would have made the trip to Jorgensen quite rewarding. Add to that already superior blend, Revis, who flawlessly takes care of business on bass, and the fabulous Faulkner, and potentially you’ve got one of the winter’s major jazz events in Connecticut. Read more »

Branford Marsalis: Confident MF Playin’ Tunes

Publication: All About Jazz
Author: R.J. DeLuke
Date: December 10, 2012

Musicians evolve, and so do bands, if they’re allowed to stay together long enough to develop their musical relationships—that certain chemistry. Such is the case with Branford Marsalis, the outstanding saxophonist who has been through so much in his storied career. It’s also the case with his band, which he has kept together, with few personnel changes, for more than a decade. They are a tight unit that continues to ripen. Read more »

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Four MFs Playin' Tunes (Marsalis Music)

Publication: Jazziz
Author: Josef Woodard
Date: November 29, 2012

Four MFs Playin’ Tunes sports a fitting package and moniker. Each member of the Branford Marsalis Quartet — tenor/soprano saxophonist Marsalis, pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner — is featured on a single panel of the insert, while the others appear in blurred focus behind him. And the players more than live up to the designation of mother****ers — a term of highest praise in this context.

Marsalis is a wise and humble leader, who willingly shares the spotlight. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on December 5th, 2012 — 11:16am

Marsalis, jazz quartet wow crowd

Publication: Omaha World-Herald
Author: Todd von Kampen
Date: November 10, 2012

Three numbers into a brilliant 90-minute set Friday night, Branford Marsalis had a confession to make: The saxophonist and the rest of his jazz quartet hadn’t played together since September.

Their so-called rust hardly showed, but the foursome’s considerable musical skills account for only part of the reason. The rest of their formula reflected what Marsalis’ brother Wynton once famously told documentary master Ken Burns: At its best, jazz amounts to an ongoing dialogue among musicians, with their instruments as the voices.

Branford and his mates gave the Holland Performing Arts Center audience a master class on the subject. They played only eight identifiable pieces (including Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing” as the encore), but as Marsalis explained: “All we do is take our time. No rush.” Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on November 12th, 2012 — 12:18pm

Branford Marsalis Interview: ‘Four MFs Playin’ Tunes’

Publication: The Republic (Arizona)
Author: Ed Masley
Date: November 6, 2012

Branford Marsalis is about to bring the latest version of his jazz quartet — with Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass and Justin Faulkner on drums — to the Musical Instrument Museum on the heels of releasing a brilliant new album amusingly titled “Four MFs Playin’ Tunes.”

But Marsalis has long since moved on from that album in his mind. It’s been a year since they recorded it. And he’s not living in the past.

The saxophonist graciously agreed to share his thoughts on everything from “Four MFs to what it meant to add a teenage drummer to the lineup in a thought-provoking interview that lasted nearly 30 minutes without ever making its way to the intended second question.

Question: The new album sounds amazing. I’d assume you’re pretty happy with the way it turned out?

Answer: I was, yeah. But we’re mentally on to the next thing (laughs).

Q: Already?

A: Oh yeah, man. The only thing our records do is document our progress or lack thereof. There’s growth and improvement or there’s just monotony. As Sonny Rollins told me, “Some of my colleagues have found something that works really well for them and they repeat that thing over and over again. And that’s cool, ’cause the hard thing to do is to find that one thing that works.” But for him, it’s always been about expanding and stretching and trying things, not standing still. And I agree. Read more »

JAZZ 2K: CD Picks of the Week

Publication: Nippertown!
Author: J Hunter
Date: October 19, 2012

BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET
Four MFs Playin’ Tunes
(Marsalis Music)

“Nothing to see here; everything’s under control.” That’s the underlying message of the title to the first Branford Marsalis Quartet disc without longtime drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. That’s a big loss to the bottomless musical hive-mind that is the BMQ, but between their rip-snorting Proctors show in February and the cockeyed bop that drives MFs whirling opener “The Mighty Sword,” it sounds like 20-year old wunderkind Jason Faulkner has been assimilated just fine, thank you very much. He bubbles and bashes and bangs, while volcanic pianist Joey Calderazzo shows he’s light-years from the time when he was “that new guy” who replaced the late Kenny Kirkland. Read more »

Submitted by Bobby on October 25th, 2012 — 10:03am

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Four MFs Playin’ Tunes

Publication: The Abso!ute Sound
Author: Bill Milkowski
Date: October 1, 2012

This wryly-titled offering is the first to feature drummer Justin Faulkner, who replaced Jeff “Tain” Watts in the BMQ lineup in 2009 at age 18. This 180-gram double LP (also released on CD) is an immaculate-sounding collection that puts a premium on melody, though not at the expense of virtuosic soloing. Pianist Joey Calderazzo, a BMQ member since 1998, has matured into a first-rate composer and stellar improviser who relies less on his considerable chops than he did when he broke in with Michael Brecker’s group in the early 90s. His riff-oriented “The Mighty Sword” is as memorable as anything he’s ever written while his ethereal “As Summer Into Autumn Slips” beautifully showcases Marsalis’ unparalleled soprano playing. Read more »

Four MFs Playin' Tunes: Branford Marsalis Quartet

Publication: Jazztimes
Author: Thomas Conrad
Date: October 4, 2012

Branford Marsalis is onto something here. In press notes, he explains, “We need to quit thinking of songs as vehicles and think of them as songs. … What we are trying to do is figure out the emotional purpose of each song … and then play according to that purpose.” Marsalis’ bands have always had chops to burn. Few ensembles have used songs as “vehicles” with more outrageous technical prowess. But often, in concert and on record, they paraded virtuosity at the expense of pacing. Art Blakey’s one-word description of jazz was “intensity.” Sometimes Marsalis believed it too much.

The new album is different because it contains more focused, unified development of specific song forms. There is still rarefied blowing by Marsalis on tenor and soprano saxophones and Joey Calderazzo on piano. But discipline creates a new musicality. Read more »

Review: Drummer propels Branford Marsalis Quartet

Publication: NewYorkTimes.com & HuffingtonPost.com
Author: Charles J. Gans
Date: August 13, 2012

Branford Marsalis Quartet, “Four MFs Playin’ Tunes” (Marsalis Music)

Don’t let the understated title of the new Branford Marsalis Quartet album mislead you into thinking this is some loosely arranged jam session. Saxophonist Marsalis leads one of the most cohesive, intense small jazz ensembles on the scene today. The group’s three long-standing members – Marsalis, pianist Joey Calderazzo and bassist Eric Revis – each contribute original tunes to “Four MFs Playin’ Tunes” and there are covers of Thelonious Monk’s “Teo” and the 1930s ballad “My Ideal.”

The quartet’s tight interplay reflects that the group has undergone only one lineup change in more than a decade. That came in 2009 when Marsalis’ collaborator of a quarter century, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, left and was replaced by then 18-year-old high school senior Justin Faulkner, who propels the band with new energy on his studio recording debut with the quartet. Faulkner confirms his rising-star status as he engages in intricate dialogues with the tenor saxophonist and pianist on Marsalis’ “Whiplash” before climaxing with a riveting, powerhouse drum solo. On the next track, Calderazzo’s ethereal ballad “As Summer Into Autumn Slips,” the drummer displays his finesse with his soft mallet-and-cymbal accompaniment.

Submitted by Bobby on August 13th, 2012 — 04:21pm