Fall jazz: Branford Marsalis, SFJAZZ, Monterey Jazz Fest highlight stellar season

Publication: Mercury News
Author: Richard Scheinin
Date: August 24, 2011

Branford Marsalis: The great saxophonist’s quartet has my vote as the cockiest, and maybe the best, working band in jazz. It pours through Coltrane burnouts, hard swing, elegiac ballads (a la Keith Jarrett in the ’70s) or takes you back to jazz’s early days with W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues.” Every time it takes the stage, some kind of gleeful workout is bound to happen, some sort of display of macho virtuosity that turns into spiritual exploration.

Marsalis’ quartet (with Joey Calderazzo, piano; Eric Revis, bass; Justin Faulkner, drums) takes the stage Sept. 20 at Santa Cruz’s Kuumbwa Jazz Center, where its shows through the years are the stuff of legend. (Shows at 7 and 9 p.m., tickets $30 in advance; 1-866-558-4253, www.kuumbwajaz.org.) Then it moves north to Yoshi’s-San Francisco for four nights, Sept. 21-25. (Two shows per night; times vary; $20-$40; 415-655-5600, www.yoshis.com.)