The Branford Marsalis Quartet will perform Sunday, Jan. 12, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
A three-time Grammy Award winner, Marsalis is one of the most revered instrumentalists of his time. He has continued to exercise and expand his skills as an instrumentalist and composer, as well as leading Marsalis Music, the label he founded in 2002 that has allowed him to produce both his own projects and those of the jazz world’s most promising new and established artists.
The performance is at 7 p.m. Tickets are $55, $45 and $35, with $10 student tickets. For tickets, call the ASC Box Office at 205-975-2787 or AlysStephens.org.
UAB Visual and Performing Arts members may receive $10 off two single tickets. UAB faculty and staff may receive $15 off two single tickets. A limited number of student, member, and faculty/staff tickets are available.
Having gained initial acclaim through his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and his brother Wynton’s quintet in the early 1980s, Marsalis also performed and recorded with a who’s-who of jazz giants, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins. He has also collaborated with such diverse artists as Sting, the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby.
Hailing from a rich jazz heritage and dedicated to music education, Marsalis has shared his knowledge at Michigan State, San Francisco State, Stanford and North Carolina Central universities. His full quartet participated in an innovative extended residency at North Carolina Central, and Marsalis continues to be an artist-in-residence on the campus.
Whether on the stage, in the recording studio, in the classroom or in the community, Marsalis embodies a commitment to musical excellence and a determination to keep music at the forefront.
His latest recording, “The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul,” debuted at No. 3 on the U.S. Jazz Album charts, both traditional and overall. The album has garnered rave reviews:
Jazziz says, “Branford Marsalis’ quartet has been a model of daring, unapologetic artistry for the past three decades … On their new album, ‘The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul,’ they reach a new peak, addressing a kaleidoscope of moods with inspiration and group commitment.”