Rhythm-a-ning with Branford

Rhythm-a-ning with Branford

May 07, 2009

It’s been several years since I saw Branford Marsalis play live, but if tonight’s late set at the Jazz Standard is anything to go by, let’s just say that his last few albums don’t begin to capture the peaks he’s scaling. He started the set with a slow pure-tone simmer of “Violets for Your Furs,” switched to a raucous original, and, at one point, lit into long, zigzag takes on Monk’s “Rhythm-a-ning,” treating it alternately as a funk fizz, a samba, a syncopated frenzy, and a straightforward Monk tune, each switch ripe with wit, adventure, and wry references reminiscent of Dexter Gordon’s (the deftest were two lines from “Jitterbug Waltz”). He blows hot and cool, intense and insouciant. At 48, the onetime wunderkind (and Wynton bro’) has grown fully into his promise and beyond. Another star of the evening was his drummer, an 18-year-old high-school senior from Philadelphia named Justin Faulkner, who’s replaced the longtime Jeff “Tain” Watts. Faulkner is incredible, klook-a-mopping the trapset with ferocious energy and gigantic ears, picking up on every twist from pianist Joey Calderazzo, expanding the spaces left open, then filling them with endless variations. He has a tendency to play louder as the music grows more intense, but hey, he’s 18. There’s a hint of a budding Elvin Jones here. Go watch and listen. The quartet plays through Sunday. The house was jam-packed.

speakers and shielding from television

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The Entry Level
Submitted by enframed on

hi all.

here's my scenario. i do not currently have the best room for listening and speaker placement is a problem. without going into why, for the immediate time being i have placed my dynaudio focus 140s atop a very large, very old "flatscreen" television. this tv is huge and the speakers do fit on top rather solidly and are far enough apart for the time being. i do not use the speakers for home theatre, stereo only and the stereo is not at all hooked up to the television or dvd player. the speakers are NEVER used at the same time the TV is.

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