Marsalis brings far-ranging Vibes Quartet to Bay Area
Youngest member of famed family promises to offer a surprising setlist
Jason Marsalis makes music with a twist.
An NEA Jazz Master and the youngest musical sibling in the illustrious New Orleans clan, he's a consummate drummer and skilled vibraphonist who first made a name for himself outside familial settings as a founder of Los Hombres Calientes.
Co-leading the band with Headhunters percussionist Bill Summers and trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, Marsalis inflected an array of African diaspora rhythmic currents with New Orleans grooves, newly illuminating the cultural DNA connecting the Crescent City with Cuba, Haiti, Brazil and beyond.
When the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet checks into the SFJAZZ Center's Joe Henderson Lab for a four-night, eight-show run today through Suday (and Kuumbwa Jazz Center on Monday), he's bringing a game plan that zigzags across eras, styles and idioms.
Instrumental in relaunching the Lionel Hampton Big Band, which documented its resurgence with a 2017 DVD recorded live in the Walnut Creek community of Rossmoor, Marsalis has been deeply engaged with the vibraphone pioneer's music.
“I've been doing some tunes that Hamp played, but we do them in a more modern style,” said Marsalis, 45. “And then we'll also take contemporary tunes and play them in Hamp's style. One I had the most fun with is `Hold That Thought,' a John Scofield piece we play as a swing tune.”
He's also been working on another piece by a contemporary guitar master, Pat Metheny's “So It May Secretly Begin.” That idea came from talking with musicians in the Lionel Hampton Big Band who played with the swing era star before his death at the age of 94 in 2002. “They told about how openminded Hamp was,” Marsalis said, “and how after one show he was asking about which Pat Metheny records he should listen to.”
It's not just the role-reversal material that sets this California run apart for Marsalis. This version of his Vibes Quartet features two invaluable Bay Area players: bassist David Ewell and pianist Adam Shulman. He connected with them through San Francisco-reared drummer Jaz Sawyer, whose creative path has intersected repeatedly with Marsalis' over three decades.
Now living in South Pasadena, Sawyer has been keeping an eye on Marsalis ever since he happened to hear trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis's 1992 debut album “Pontius Pilate's Decision,” which featured the 14-year-old younger sibling holding his own on the drums with a fierce crew of young lions, “and since I was about a year younger than Jason that made a big impression,” Sawyer said.
A few years later, Sawyer made a point of catching Delfeayo when he played the old Yoshi's on Claremont “and had Jason with him,” Sawyer recalled. “I introduced myself to Delfeayo as a drummer after the show and he asked, `Who's your favorite drummer?' `Art Blakey.' And Del says, `Sing me a solo.' `Um, what?' He calls Jason over and says, `Sing me some Blakey,' and Jason starts singing this solo, I think from the album `Kyoto.' I was like, holy smokes! He was completely gifted. I've always been an admirer.”
The drummers stayed in touch over the years,and during Sawyer's early aughts residence in New Orleans they forged a closer bond. When Marsalis decided to move on from Los Hombres Calientes, he tapped Sawyer as the replacement.
The band continued to tour internationally, with a particular focus on Brazil and Sawyer's stint was documented in 2003 on the DVD “Los Hombres Calientes: Live at the House Of Blues.”
More profoundly, when his work with pianist Marcus Roberts took him out of town, “He'd call me to sub for him with his dad at Snug Harbor,” Sawyer said, referring to the gig with piano patriarch Ellis Marsalis (who died of COVID-19 in April 2020 at the age of 85) as “The University of E.”
“I was grateful he trusted me to do that,” Sawyer said.
They'll also be drawing on Ellis Marsalis' music at SFJAZZ, particularly from the pianist's final album, “For All We Know” (Newvelle Records), a series of vibes and piano duets produced by Jason. “I realized I really didn't play his music enough on vibes,” he said. “It works well. One tune I know we'll do is `Orchid Blue,' a favorite of my brother Wynton's.”
Witnessing a new band take shape can carry its own excitement, but the quartet is built on the tried and true relationship between Sawyer and Berkeley-raised Ewell. They came up together on the Bay Area scene, “and he's on almost all of my albums, and all my SFJAZZ projects,” Sawyer said. “He's my man. My go-to bassist. We click up really nice. And Adam is another first-call pianist in the Bay Area. We've worked together with Marcus Shelby, but before I ever met him I heard him on shows and recordings and admired him.”