Search - Jason Marsalis :: Music in Motion

Music in Motion
Jason Marsalis
Music in Motion
Genres: Jazz, Pop, R&B
 
  •  Track Listings (10) - Disc #1

"If jazz is to keep moving forward, all the musical styles in jazz history have to be advanced while including musical styles outside the jazz realm." When the youthful leader of this date offers this analysis, you can jus...  more »

     
?

Larger Image

CD Details

All Artists: Jason Marsalis
Title: Music in Motion
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Basin Street Records
Original Release Date: 3/28/2000
Re-Release Date: 4/11/2000
Genres: Jazz, Pop, R&B
Styles: Modern Postbebop, Bebop, Funk
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 652905030226

Synopsis

Amazon.com
"If jazz is to keep moving forward, all the musical styles in jazz history have to be advanced while including musical styles outside the jazz realm." When the youthful leader of this date offers this analysis, you can just imagine his famous older brother--trumpeter, educator, and band leader Wynton Marsalis--edging warily away. But, combined with his stone-cold technique and jumping-bean energy, that kind of thinking makes drummer Jason Marsalis--the baby of his jazz-knighted clan--perhaps the family's most musically intrepid member. Music in Motion offers a case in point, with several inventive compositions, a feisty pair of young saxists (John Ellis, Derek Douget) in the front line, and effective use of Marsalis's own ferocious soloing. Marsalis doesn't just pepper his improvisations with his firm command of drum rudiments; he often makes them the foundation of his solos--risky business unless you can apply the imagination he shows here. Marsalis wrote all 10 tunes on the disc, and several deserve to stick around. The best example of his musical philosophy is the whimsically titled "It Came from the Planet of Nebtoon." Placed against a polyrhythmic shuffle, the melody echoes Charlie Parker's famous "Parker's Blues," but the solos reference Ornette Coleman, big brother Branford, and Weather Report. The album features a couple of annoying quirks of the sort that run in the family: inside-joke liner notes (written by one "Li'l Man Jake, proofread by Jalmoose") and an extra track that shows up nearly 90 seconds after the last listed track has ended. But, in general, Jason seems much less self-indulgent than the rest of the brood--a musician for whom the music speaks strongly enough to preclude just about everything else. --Neil Tesser
 

CD Reviews

The Marsalis We Should Be Listening To.
10/24/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Jazz fans should stop debating Wynton Marsalis' influence on Jazz and pay attention to the burgeoning influence of the Marsalis brother few have heard of. The youngest of the four Marsalis brothers, drummer Jason (only 22 when this album was recorded) has written another collection of compositions which evidence his growth as a leader and composer. Marsalis is no rookie to the scene, however, as he has recorded with pianist Marcus Roberts, brothers Branford and Wynton, and father Ellis. He also has had the good fortune of working with premier jazz percussionist Bill Summers in their Latin Jazz band, Los Hombres Calientes (along with trumpeter Irvin Mayfield). Following up his much heralded 1998 release, Year of the Drummer, the tracks on Music in Motion contain numerous stop-on-a-dime tempo changes which work very well and add tremendous color. There's a Thing Called Rhythm (Track 1) and It Came form the Planet Nebtoon (Track 8) demonstrate Marsalis' tremendous drum work. Marsalis does not fall into the trap most drummer-leaders do, as he knows when to hang in the background and when to shine. The ballads also work well here as one can hear shades of Mingus tenor man Booker Ervin on On the First Occasion (Track 4). Music in Motion is for those who want to experience the flavors of New Orleans jazz, post-bop, along with a measure of funk, as interpreted by an up-and-coming jazz drummer."