Meanderings

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Typically speaking, i prefer to wait for a CD to stay in my collection for some years before i comment on it here. This helps not only distinguish those projects that have withstood the test of time in my world, but it allows me to get to know a project with the depth that only time can provide.

Tonight i'll be making an exception. Three weeks ago, i aquired this CD. I had seen Branford play at the University of Texas in 92 or so and remember two things specifically about the show: 1) Jeff "Tain" Watts was sick or couldn't make it, so Branford's younger brother, Jason, sat in. He was about 16, maybe younger, and was having the time of his life. 2) I remember the band playing a compositon called, Brother Trying to Catch a Cab (On the East Side) Blues.

My understanding of jazz was still developing back then so while i appreciated the humor of the title, i remember not being able to dig the groove he was dispensing to us.

Fast forward to three weeks ago when i slide this CD into the player in my car. The vocabulary i've developed since then has grown exponentially [not to mention, i'm studying saxophone these days], and i was simply blown away. The opening piece starts with a brother hailing a cab and being declined by the driver even though he has money. After an exaperated, "Awww man!", the journey begins. What ensues after this is very similiar to the opening track of Black Codes (from the Underground) in that Branford just comes out swinging. There's no mercy shown as he weaves and bobs the pain and frustration of being a respectable man in a world where respect is a rare commodity at best... especially as a brother trying to get a cab to Brooklyn. As a solo, Branford shows his hand early on as this track begins and i'm continually impressed with his level of control and articulation... and this solo is from 9 years ago, no less. Solo's are passed from Branford to Robert Hurst [Bass], then onto Jeff "Tain" Watts [Drums] and the song lasts a hair over 9 minutes, whereupon you get to hear the same brother hailing a cab, only to be passed up for a presumably white guy who hails a cab once by mildly exclaiming, "Yoo-hoo, Yellow Cab !".

But then it all changes... and stays the same.

One of the things i've known about Branford for a long time is what a tremendous blues player he is. In the jazz world, the guitar is treated as a 2nd class instrument and in the blues world, the saxophone is given the same treatment. But herein lies the richest treasures of this CD: it's a journey into the blues but it's not about the saxophone. Appearances by B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Linda Hopkins help make this trip fulfilling for those of us who dig jazz and blues alike.

And it's in the true spirit of the blues this series of songs are done. It starts with Brother Trying to Catch a Cab (On the East Side) Blues then transitions into B.B.'s Blues, featuring some solid teamwork between B.B. King and Branford, and eventually onto a deep retreat of Dixieland with Sidney In Da Haus; presumably a devotional to Sidney Bechet. But as energetic and uplifting as that is, little can prepare you for the next track, Berta, Berta.

Chains drag, cicadia's cry, crows protest and mock from their trees and slowly a cresendo of a chaingang starts in. It is not a happy scene as the sounds paint the worst kind of life there is for a man; reduced to manual labor for sins he may or may not have committed. But in the tradition that is the Blues, the voices ascend the pain and suffering, while acknowledging them. The hammers fall, the voices rise and in a heart-wrenching way, Berta, Berta becomes a testament of suffering and how hope can be more than suffering ever will be. Perhaps i'm reading too much into this track, but of all the compositions offered here, it's this one that continually lifts me and breaks me at the same time.... and without a single instrument other than sledgehammers to rock.

I like this CD. I like it a lot. I like it because it straddles the line between jazz and it's forefather, the blues and pays proper homage to both. I like it because Branford knows when to step out of the light and let someone else take over. I like it because it's full of depth, feeling and though the tracks might not seem to be inter-related on the surface, they all share a quality that holds them all together.

I also like it because Branford Marsalis has a sense of humor and on the closing track, Simi Valley Blues, it shows. Listen to it yourself and decide if it's funny or not, but from where i stand, it's very indicative of what Branford is all about: serious as cancer when he needs to be but never too serious to have a little fun when he can. In this particular case, he manages to be both and shows the underbelly of hypocracy that we, as Americans, must live with and acknowledge before we can ever overcome it.

31 December 2001