CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS Friday, March 11, 2011, 8pm axophonist branford marsalis, born of the Rock, which he premiered as part of the Zellerbach Hall Sin 1960, has always been a man of numer- Celtic Connections festival in Ms. Beamish’s ous musical interests, from jazz, blues and funk home country of Scotland in January 2009. to such classical music projects as his 2008 This performance followed on the heels of his tour with Marsalis Brasilianos. The three-time two-month classical tour with the Philarmonia Grammy Award-winner has continued to exer- Brasileira in a program featuring the music of cise and expand his skills as an instrumentalist, Brazil’s master composer Heitor Villa-Lobos Branford Marsalis Quartet & Terence Blanchard Quintet a composer and the head of Marsalis Music, and French composer Darius Milhaud, allow- the label he founded in 2002 that has allowed ing Mr. Marsalis the opportunity to more thor- him to produce both his own projects and those oughly engage the music and make it his own. of the jazz world’s most promising new and Mr. Marsalis’s nearly two dozen recordings established artists. have received numerous accolades. His latest The New Orleans native was born into one CD, Metamorphosen, released in March 2009, of the city’s most distinguished musical fami- marked the tenth anniversary of Mr. Marsalis’s lies, which includes patriarch-pianist-educator quartet, which features pianist Joey Calderazzo, Ellis and Mr. Marsalis’s siblings, Wynton, bassist Eric Revis and founding drummer Jeff Delfeayo and Jason. Mr. Marsalis gained initial “Tain” Watts, and includes original composi- acclaim through his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz tions by all four members in a variety of moods, Messengers and his brother Wynton’s quintet as well as features for Mr. Marsalis on tenor, so- in the early 1980s before forming his own en- prano and alto saxophones. semble. He has also performed and recorded His previous disc, the Grammy-nominated with a who’s who of jazz giants, including Miles Braggtown, was acknowledged as his quartet’s Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and greatest recorded achievement to date. The Sonny Rollins. quartet’s Eternal also received a Grammy nomi- Known for his innovative spirit and broad nation, as well as virtually universal inclusion in musical scope, Mr. Marsalis is equally at home lists and polls for the best jazz recording of 2004. on the stages of the world’s greatest clubs and Mr. Marsalis’s playing on the DVD Coltrane’s concert halls, where he has performed jazz with “A Love Supreme” Live in Amsterdam received a Marsalis by Palma Kolansky; Blanchard by Jenny Bagert his quartet and his own unique musical ap- Grammy nomination for best instrumental jazz proach to contemporary popular music with solo, while also garnering awards for music and Branford Marsalis saxophones Terence Blanchard trumpet his band Buckshot LeFonque. In recent years, video excellence from the DVD Association. Mr. Marsalis has also become increasingly ac- As an educator, Mr. Marsalis is dedicated to Joey Caldarazzo piano Brice Winston saxophone tive as a featured soloist with such acclaimed changing the future of jazz in the classroom. He Eric Revis bass Fabian Almazan piano orchestras as the Chicago, Detroit, Düsseldorf has shared his knowledge at Michigan State, San Justin Faulkner drums Joshua Crumbly bass and North Carolina symphonies and the Francisco State, Stanford and North Carolina Kendrick Scott drums Boston Pops, in a growing repertoire that in- Central universities, with his quartet partici- cludes compositions by Copland, Debussy, pating in an innovative extended residency at Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Mihaud, Rorem and North Carolina Central. He is also bringing a Vaughan Williams. new approach to jazz education to student musi- As Mr. Marsalis continues to establish his cians and listeners in colleges and high schools presence in the classical realm, his propensity for through Marsalis Jams, an interactive program This performance is made possible, in part, by innovation and forward thinking compels him designed by Mr. Marsalis in which leading jazz Patron Sponsors Joseph and Sherry Felson. to seek new and challenging works by modern ensembles present concert/jam sessions in mini- classical composers. One such composer, Sally residencies. Marsalis Jams has visited campuses Cal Performances’ 2010–2011 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. Beamish, after hearing Mr. Marsalis perform her in the northeast, mid-Atlantic, southeast and composition The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone southwest United States, and established an at the 2006 North Sea Jazz Festival, was inspired ongoing Marsalis Berklee Jams series with the to reconceive a piece in progress, Under the Wing Berklee College of Music in 2008. 4 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 5 ABOUT THE ARTISTS These diverse interests are also reflected in a Golden Globe nomination for Spike Lee’s 25th Mr. Marsalis’s other activities. He spent two Hour. Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Lee previously col- years touring and recording with Sting, and was laborated on the HBO documentaries When the the musical director of The Tonight Show with Levees Broke and If God’s Willling and Da Creek Jay Leno for two years in the 1990s. He has col- Don’t Rise, which detail the devastation left by laborated with the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Mr. Blanchard re- Hornsby, acted in films, including Throw Mama leased the CD A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem from the Train and School Daze, provided music for Katrina), a haunting and impassioned song for Mo’ Better Blues and other films, and hosted cycle which included tracks from Levees. A Tale National Public Radio’s syndicated program of God’s Will went on to win a Grammy Award Jazz Set. for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Among the most socially conscious voices in Mr. Blanchard recently appeared on HBO’s the arts, Mr. Marsalis quickly immersed him- New Orleans-based drama Treme, and on The self in relief efforts following the devastation Tonight Show. In 2008 and 2009, he com- of Hurricane Katrina. He is the honorary chair pleted the score for Mr. Lee’s Miracle at St. of the New Orleans Habitat for Humanity ef- Anna and the soundtrack for Darnell Martin’s fort to rebuild the city, and together with his Cadillac Records, as well as contributing tracks friend Harry Connick, Jr. conceived the Habitat for Walt Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. Musicians’ Village currently under construction Mr. Blanchard’s other film writing includes mu- in the city’s historic Ninth Ward. sic for Kasi Lemmons’s Eve’s Bayou and Talk to Whether on the stage, in the recording Me, Oprah Winfrey’s Their Eyes Were Watching studio, in the classroom or in the community, God, Tim Story’s Barbershop and Ron Shelton’s Branford Marsalis represents a commitment to Dark Blue. He is currently working on the score musical excellence and a determination to keep for George Lucas’s Red Tails, set for release in music at the forefront. fall 2011. Mr. Blanchard’s Broadway debut will oc- erence blanchard has established cur in the Scott Rudin production of The Thimself as one of the most influential jazz Mother—— with the Hat, starring Chris Rock, musicians and film-score masters of his genera- which will open on April 11, 2011. He is also at tion, creating a legacy that has helped to shape work on the musical score for the remake of A the contours of modern jazz. A true “renais- Streetcar Named Desire, set to open on Broadway sance” artist with more than 29 albums to his in fall 2011, and has been commissioned by credit, Mr. Blanchard is a five-time Grammy Opera St. Louis to write an original opera based Award-winner. on the life of boxing legend Emile Griffith, Mr. Blanchard’s latest work, Choices, was re- scheduled to premiere in 2012. leased by Concord Jazz in 2009 to widespread In fall 2011, Mr. Blanchard will become critical acclaim. Recorded in New Orleans at the Artistic Director of the Henry Mancini the Ogden Museum of Art—itself a survivor Institute, a prestigious program at the University of Hurricane Katrina—Choices addresses the of Miami Frost School of Music that is training choices we make in life, on both the societal a new generation of orchestral and jazz artists and personal levels. Guest artists on Choices in- to create and perform in mixed-genre, col- clude writer, speaker, educator and activist Dr. laborative settings. In addition to this new role, Cornel West and singer, musician and composer Mr. Blanchard will become the Artistic Director Bilal. Dr. West performs spoken-word pieces of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He contin- on the album with Bilal providing vocals on ues to tour with his quintet and participates in several tracks. master classes around the world as well as in lo- As a film composer, Mr. Blanchard has cal community outreach activities in his beloved more than 50 scores to his credit and received hometown of New Orleans. 6 CAL PERFORMANCES.