The Brandford Marsalis Quartet featuring Terence Blanchard - Music From Mo' Better Blues (1990)

A soundtrack album as inconsistent as the film itself. There's some filler here, but it's mostly modern hard bop by an all-star band - in addition to Blanchard and Marsalis, there's Kenny Kirkland, Robert Hurst, and Tain Watts. This band (minus Blanchard) would go on to be members of The Tonight Show Band when Jay Leno took over in '92. Of course, the best music in the movie is John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, but that masterpiece will have to wait for its appearance on this blog. Rumor has it that Coltrane's widow, Alice, denied Spike Lee the use of the title "A Love Supreme" as that's what Lee wanted to call the movie.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #63
• Billboard Jazz: #1
• Billboard R&B: #21

Tracks: There's a nice take on Harlem Blues with vocals by Cynda Williams. The Marsalis originals Say Hey and Beneath The Underdog are also solid. Spike Lee's father, Bill, composed and contributed two good tracks: the ballad Again Never and the catchy, bluesy title track. The filler tunes are Pop Top 40 (featuring raps by Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes) and Jazz Thing, which features the hip hop duo Gang Starr. To be fair, Jazz Thing isn't really a bad track, it is just terribly out of place on this album.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. It's been a while since I've watched this movie. I should probably see it again. If I recall, Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes did a pretty good job of looking like they could actually play their instruments.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Terence Blanchard - Let's Get Lost (2001)
Branford Marsalis - I Heard You Twice The First Time (1992)
Branford Marsalis - Romances for Saxophone (1986)

Branford Marsalis - I Heard You Twice The First Time (1992)

Recorded around the time Marsalis became the leader of The Tonight Show band, this CD is a blues album cut by a jazz quartet. Marsalis claims his goal was to reclaim "the folk and peasant aspects of black society that most jazz people disassociate themselves from as quickly as possible." It's a noble, but uneven attempt. However, it has Kenny Kirkland on piano, so it can't be a bad album. Kirkland was one of those rare musicians that raised the musicianship of all around him. He is missed.

The album won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "entirely enjoyable"
• DownBeat (★★★½): "stirring, sincere, and nonexploitative."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000):★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #1
• CashBox Jazz: #1

Tracks: I prefer the more straight-ahead blues tunes here: B.B's Blues (with a guest spot from B.B. King, natch), Rib Tip Johnson (you don't often hear blues on soprano sax), and Mabel (with John Lee Hooker). There a few tracks that are more in the post-bop vein, which I don't care for as much. The first half of the CD is much better than the second half.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I love the title of this CD and say it almost every time someone repeats themselves to me.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Romances for Saxophone (1986)

Branford Marsalis - Romances for Saxophone (1986)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

Wanting to follow in the footsteps of younger brother Wynton, Branford Marsalis makes an attempt to play classical music on the soprano saxophone. Most of the cuts are transcriptions of Romantic works by French and Russian composers. They work well, for the most part. This album introduced me to some chamber music I might not have heard otherwise as I preferred big orchestral works while in college. As far as classical music goes, this isn't heavy lifting. It even says "Light Classics" on the cover. However, throughout the material, Marsalis shows great mastery of the instrument. Soprano saxophone is easy to play (think of Warren Beatty in the movie Heaven Can Wait), but it is very difficult to play well. The tasteful, controlled tone Marsalis achieves on the instrument in these recordings is remarkable.

Billboard, August 9, 1986, p. 31

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Classical: #2
• Billboard Classical CDs: #20

Tracks: Fauré's Pavane is achingly beautiful. What a great transcription. I also like Rachmaninoff's Vocalise as well as Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Villa-Lobos. I may be in the minority here, but I've never cared much for any of Satie's Gymnopedies (more on that here), so the transcription of No. 3 here isn't my favorite.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This album was played often at 1311 Lee St., Commerce, Texas during 1987. It also led to several failed attempts at transcribing Pavane for trumpet and piano; I could never get it to work.