Creation

CD

This CD is the long-awaited follow-up to jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis's 1986 debut, Romances for Saxophone with the English Chamber conducted by Andrew Litton. Since that project, Marsalis has led his own jazz combos and worked with The Grateful Dead and Sting. On this recording, Marsalis's superb soprano and alto sax are buoyed by the wonderful, conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble that was featured on Herbie Hancock's Gershwin's World. Marsalis's clear sound and mature phrasing imbue French classics like Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante défunte," Debussy's ragtime-rhythmed "Golliwogg's Cake-Walk," and Fauré's "Pie Jesu" with verve and vitality. Marsalis navigates the New World syncopations of Darius Milhaud's "Saudades do Brasil" with the same ease he displays on the composer's jazz-inspired ballet, "La création du monde." On Jacques Ibert's showcase for the alto saxophone, "Concertino da camera," Marsalis's negotiation of its florid melody and his swing-spiced cadenza show that the innovations of jazz improvisation have enriched and extended the classical tradition. --Eugene Holley Jr.