Branford Marsalis and Jeff "Tain Watts at Blues Alley 2/6/00

by Alan Greenblatt

Paul Fussell and other war commentators have pointed out how fighting men in uniform tend to persevere through the horrors of war not out of any loyalty to the cause so much as a desire not to let down their colleagues. Sometimes a similar dynamic is at work in jazz, where musicians play not so much for the audience as for one another.

This happened at Blues Alley, I thought, on Thursday night, when Branford Marsalis sat in with a group led by his long-time drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts. Watts was supposed to have Ravi Coltrane as his saxophonist (or Craig Handy, if you went by the Blues Alley ad), and Marsalis was a last-minute substitution.

Marsalis would state the melodies of Watts' original melodies ("The Impaler," "Pools of Amber") in a most perfunctory manner. There was a time, back in the early eighties, when Branford seemed the more interesting of the Marsalis brothers, even though Wynton was getting all the hype. Wynton Marsalis has gone on to be the dominant voice in the music for nearly two decades, if much loathed in certain quarters, while Branford has flailed a bit, playing too pop-ish even when he wasn't working for Sting or Jay Leno. He actually used to say in interviews that he wasn't going to worry about taking the music in new directions until he was 40; he was going to spend his youth just having fun.

Well, Branford will reach 40 this summer, and it appears most unlikely that he'll make a major contribution to the music. He's a fine player, with a terrific tone and certainly more humor than brother Wynton possesses. But he brought less invention and wit to these melodies than pianist David Budway, and who he?

Still, once in a while, Branford would perk up. Watts would get off a series of rolls or start some new rhythm in midstream, and suddenly Branford would get up off his stool and ask for the solo spot and actually play something interesting.

It was a great demonstration of the power of musical friendship. Seeing it up close, as you can at Blues Alley, made that club's extortionist cover/drink/food prices almost worthwhile.