Last night I went to see a saxophone player I had never seen in concert before. Branford Marsalis was performing at the Vancouver Jazz Festival. His performance was done partially with the VSO, at the Orpheum Theatre.
The first half of the 2½ hour show was classical in nature, and Marsalis performed that part of his show on alto saxophone. The second half of his show was a jazz performance. It was a duo with sax and piano. Marsalis performed on soprano and tenor, along with his piano player, Joey Calderazzo.
It has been a while since I last listened to my Branford Marsalis, Contemporary Jazz, CD, and I admit, I have not kept up with the man’s career. However, I knew I would be in for an evening of amazing saxophone playing, by one of the world’s greatest players. I was not wrong.
The control that Branford Marsalis has over his horns is nothing short of amazing. From the softest pianissimo to the loudest forte, not only was there almost no pitchiness to his playing, but his breath control was staggering. At times it had me wondering if he was using circular breathing. Then I thought likely not, he just really controlled his air flow really well.
What struck me the most about Branford Marsalis’ sound, is the purity of his alto tone. I do not believe I have ever heard an alto—or any sax for that matter—played with such a pure sound. I think Adolphe Sax would be absolutely proud to have his name attached to the instrument with such a pure, clean, clear, classical sound. Why the saxophone isn’t part of more classical repertoire makes no sense.
One thing that allowed the audience to hear all the amazing nuances of Marsalis’ playing, was the venue. The Orpheum Theatre opened on November 7, 1927 1. At the time apparently it cost $1 million to build! To put that in perspective, the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator puts that at $14.5 million in 2017 dollars.
The Orpheum was originally “one of seventeen grand movie places in Canada built by the Chicago-based Orpheum Circuit and the largest and most extravagant theatre on the Pacific Coast” 2. Today the Orpheum is the home to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO), and is regularly booked by musical acts looking for an elegant setting.
To give you an idea of what the Orpheum looks like, here are a couple of shots I took last night with my iPhone. Obviously the photos are not great due to the poor lighting, but you get the idea…
If I had to say which of the performances I liked best last night, I would have to say the classical portion, when Branford Marsalis performed with the VSO. Why did I like that best? Um, because he played more.
With the VSO Marsalis was remarkable. The pure tone of his saxophone was an amazing thing to hear as it blended with Vancouver’s finest symphonic players. It was very clear who the soloist was. Branford Marsalis took centre stage for the entire time he was onstage with the VSO.
For the jazz performance however, I felt I came to an amazing jazz piano performance by Joey Calderazzo, and Branford Marsalis would occasionally pop in and play to augment the piano work. If it hadn’t been billed as a Marsalis show, you wouldn’t have known who the headliner was.
That said, just as his with work with the VSO, Marsalis’ jazz performance was remarkable: there just wasn’t enough of it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show I saw last night by Branford Marsalis. If you haven’t seen the man in concert, I do encourage you to check him out if his tour comes to a city or a festival near you. He is without a doubt, one of the best saxophone players alive today.
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1 From the History of Vancouver website.
2 From Canada’s Historic Places
