Critical opinion tends to be cagey about the sax-playing eldest Marsalis brother, suggesting that although he is a master technician like trumpeter Wynton, he isn't a master tactician in the same way. Branford's records have tended to exhibit more of a what-the-hell exuberance compared with Wynton's pedagogical output; he has also run a hip-hop band, appeared with the Grateful Dead and Sting, and even had a sidebar career as an actor.
Although Branford's worldview is more phlegmatic, there's nothing casual about his saxophone playing, which is a purposeful and articulate descendant of the Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane tradition. The Marsalis name alone might have been enough to make it standing-room only at Ronnie Scott's this week, but word had also got around that the saxophonist was bringing an all-star quartet, featuring Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums.
At the first show, the band was in scalding form, drawing ecstatic whoops and cajoling encouragement from the audience as they whipped the gig into an ever more furious gallop. Calderazzo was at his most feverishly expressive, notes ringing and jostling with glittering clarity whatever the tempo. In the opener, Marsalis wove a dry, slightly mournful tenor tone into a slow theme and rugged uptempo runs. Meanwhile, Watts's remarkable drums switched from a gentle buoyancy to choppy polyrhythms and a cruising jazzy walk, resoundingly supported by Revis's powerful bassline.
Throughout the set, the band remained relaxed, constantly feeding and resolving each other's ideas. At one point they conjured up the springy ensemble swing of an Ornette Coleman band: Marsalis played Coleman's kittenish Giggin' on soprano, to more dark bass patterns from Revis and an insistent rumble from Watts. That was followed by a delicate ballad reverie on a theme by Kenny Kirkland, Marsalis's sometime piano partner. Watts then staged an indoor firework display - the kind of drum break on a barrelling postbop sprint that set the hardened pros at the back shaking their heads in amazement.
Until Saturday. Box office: 020-7439 0747.
