JAZZ ROOM special edition: An Evening with Branford Marsalis, Romare Bearden Revealed

Presented in partnership with JazzArts Charlotte, An Evening with Branford Marsalis: Romare Bearden Revealed pays homage to the album Romare Bearden Revealed and features  legendary saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The evening’s setlist includes some songs from the original album that have not been played live in over 20 years, in addition to other works composed by Marsalis.

About Branford Marsalis
Some might gauge Branford Marsalis’s success by his numerous awards, including three Grammys and (together with his father and brothers) and his citation as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. To Branford, however, these are only way stations along what continues to be one of the most fascinating and rewarding journeys in the world of music.

New Orleans-born Branford Marsalis is an award-winning saxophonist, band leader, featured classical soloist, film and Broadway composer. The Branford Marsalis Quartet, formed in 1986, remains his primary means of expression. In its uninterrupted three-plus decades of existence, the quartet has established a rare breadth of stylistic range as demonstrated on the band’s latest release: The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul. Marsalis, however, has not confined his music only to the jazz quartet context. A frequent soloist with classical ensembles, he is increasingly sought after as a featured musician with acclaimed orchestras around the world performing works by composers, including Copeland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem, Vaughan Williams, and Villa-Lobos. 

About Romare Bearden Revealed

Marsalis met Romare Bearden in the 1980s and gained new insight into the sources of Bearden’s vision when he moved to North Carolina. When the Romare Bearden Foundation suggested that Marsalis’ label develop an album to complement the Bearden retrospective The Art of Romare Bearden, Marsalis immersed himself in Bearden’s art. Produced by Marsalis, the album is comprised of music recorded in celebration of the retrospective that opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 2004, and later traveled around the United States.

Romare Bearden Revealed epitomizes a long tradition of jazz musicians being inspired by visual artists. The album moves among jazz classics referenced in Bearden’s art, new compositions created expressly for the album, and a song in which Bearden himself played a creative role.