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Article: Branford Marsalis at Old Town
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- November 2, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Branford Marsalis has said that the title of his latest album,
"Contemporary Jazz," is not meant as a sarcastic slap at the music
also known as smooth jazz. Instead, it is meant to announce his
devotion to jazz that is contemporary in the best, most forward-
looking sense.
Judging by the music on the CD, his best in years, and his
blistering performance Wednesday at the Old Town School of Folk
Music, you can take him at his word. Radiating the bone-deep
assurance and easy spontaneity of a musician who has found himself,
the saxophonist blew past the commercial compromises and imitative
postures that have held him down to reintroduce himself in the most
personal and individual-sounding terms.