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By Przemysław Molik
The Branford Marsalis Quartet will open this year's JVC Jazz Festival, which continues the great tradition of Jazz Jamboree, the jazz festival with the longest history in Europe.
Branford Marsalis, who specializes in jazz ballads, will perform songs from his latest album, Braggtown. This is a diverse offering but carefully thought out, with tracks written by each member of the band.
Marsalis once said in an interview that Braggtown was the result of his musical maturity, and that working on this album had simply made the band better.
The concert will also feature tracks from the quartet's previous albums. Fans remember the exceptional "Eternal," a great ballad released in 2004. "All the songs reflect the idea that there is beauty in sadness. Even sad songs sound happy when some people interpret them," Marsalis said.
Eternal was the result of a request from Marsalis' wife. "Eternal stems from Nicole hearing tunes that the other guys in the band had brought in dedicated to their women. So she started on me: 'When are you going to write my tune?' For me, it's not just about naming a composition after someone; it's letting the music suggest the person. Nicole is complex, which is what I like in people. She's multidimensional, and when I wrote this particular piece, I thought it captured everything about her. [The track is] long, but there's no way you could make it shorter," Marsalis said.
In Warsaw, Marsalis will play with Joey Calderazzo, piano, Eric Revis, bass, and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums. After the concert at Torwar arena, the band is going to Ireland to appear at the Guinness Jazz Festival in Cork.
Before Marsalis comes on stage, Agnieszka Skrzypek will perform at Torwar. She is a talented, perhaps one of the best, jazz vocalists of the younger generation in Poland. She graduated with honors from the Chopin State Music School as well as the Jazz School in the class of Ewa Bem. She sings with style, intuition and grace.
JVC Jazz Festival 2006
Oct. 24, Branford Marsalis Quartet, Torwar, 3 Łazienkowska St., 7 p.m., tickets zl.60-150.
Tickets for the JVC Jazz Festival are available from Kasa Jazzarium, 1 Defilad Sq. (Palace of Culture and Science), room 715, from noon to 8 p.m.; www.shortcut.pl; www.ticketpro.pl; www.eventim.pl
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