Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet October 14, 2012

Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30.

"Music is always in motion," states Jason Marsalis, and whenever he's behind the drum kit, the music moves with graceful swing and crackling intensity, hurtling away from the familiar into fresh, exciting territory, like a bullet train headed from New Orleans to Chicago and on to destinations unknown.

Music in Motion, Marsalis' second recording as a leader/composer, portrays this express journey from the past and the present to the future of jazz. The fuel high-grade, premium rhythm, of course, supplied not only by the twenty-three year old drummer, but also by his team of young engineers: John Ellis (tenor sax), Derek Douget (alto & soprano sax), Jonathan Lefcoski (piano) and Peter Harris (bass). This record taps into the rhythmic potential of all these instruments, as well as new compositional avenues created by incorporating unusual rhythms into the jazz idiom, which keeps the music chugging briskly through seventy-four minutes of sinuous original material.

Tradition, of course, is something Marsalis understands deeply. Not only is he a part of the famous New Orleans jazz tradition, which has created innumerable legendary drummers, such as Warren "Baby" Dodds, Ed Blackwell, James Black and Herlin Riley, he belongs to a renowned musical family; his father Ellis and older brothers Wynton, Branford, and Delfeayo have dramatically influenced the jazz world for almost two decades.

In the last several years, besides studying classical percussion at Loyola University, he's worked as a sideman in contexts ranging from his father's modern trio and other local straight ahead combos to funk fusion bands, a Brazilian percussion ensemble, and even a Celtic group. He's also joined acclaimed pianist Marcus Roberts' trio, a partnership fostering creative growth in Marsalis which Roberts recently described as a "spectacular. He's shaped his own vocabulary far beyond anything I could have shown him.

"In addition, Marsalis co-founded Los Hombres Calientes, a unique cross-cultural group which fuses Latin, Afro-Cuban, African and other styles with modern jazz to create a gourmet New Orleans gumbo.

For Marsalis, all of these diverse styles, moods, textures and playful investigations are necessary to keep jazz vital as it continues its journey into the next century. "I want to bring a lot of new ideas into jazz, and expand on the tradition," he says. "If jazz is to keep moving forward, all of the musical styles in jazz history have to be advanced while including musical styles outside the jazz realm. Now that's Music in Motion."

Official Website: http://www.thehamiltondc.com/live/calendar#/jason-marsalis-vibes-quartet