Branford Marsalis and Kurt Elling – Melody in Motion
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis’ Quartet has an illustrious 20-year history spanning a series of 15 powerful albums that have tackled everything from John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme in its entirety, to 2012’s scorching Four MFs Playin’ Tunes – always giving acoustic modern jazz a hefty kick up the behind.
Yet working with a singer had never been on the Quartet’s cards – until now. Multi-Grammy Award winner Kurt Elling stepped up to the plate for what could be his fi nest vocal album to date, Upward Spiral, taming his velvety virtuosity to work within Marsalis’ fiercely intelligent vision of contemporary swing, ballads and blues. In a forthright interview Stuart Nicholson speaks to the album’s two principal protagonists about how they forged their musical partnership
This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #210 – to read the full article click here to Subscribe, save money