Metamorphosen is a nice, but not very striking title for the new CD by saxophonist Branford Marsalis. After all, there is not really a metamorphosis. Marsalis' quartet repeats what it is good at: playing uncompromising jazz, grafted on at least three quarters of a century of tradition but approached from a new post-modern angle. This approach is not that new anymore, because in 2009 the group has
… been together for ten years in its composition with pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. That is long enough to be fully attuned to each other and to be able to operate like a well-oiled machine. The CD is therefore again full of extremely swinging neo-bop with excursions to free jazz and the occasional complex fun rhythm. While on Marsalis' previous albums Coltrane was the center of attention, attention now turns to Monk, both in track names (Sphere) and compositions, for example in Jabberwocky, in which Marsalis (on alto sax!) plays in the spirit of Monk's saxophonist Charlie Rouse. Perhaps the CD title marks the long list of names to whom the album is dedicated: all jazz musicians who in recent years made the metamorphosis to a life in the afterlife. (HB)more
