January 11, 2007

Delfeayo Marsalis at HotHouse
By Marc Geelhoed, Time Out Chicago

Brothers Wynton and Branford have always had higher profiles than Delfeayo, who's younger than both, but both of them have turned to him to make them sound good. Delfeayo has produced albums for his more famous kin, including Wynton's epic Citi Movement recording from 1992. But Delfeayo is also a darn good trombonist in his own right, wielding that instrument on this tour.

Delfeayo's tour rhythm section includes pianist Anthony Wonsey, a veteran of trumpeter Nicholas Payton's hard-charging, swampy bands. Wonsey was backing up Payton back when Payton was still interested in his New Orleans heritage, a heritage Marsalis shares and will likely revisit with his quintet at HotHouse. The playlist will probably be much more than a New Orleans redux, though. Delfeayo follows Branford's questing lead more so than Wynton's nostalgic backward gaze, at least as heard on Delfeayo's most recent CD, Minions Dominion (Troubadour Jass). (Recorded in 2002 but only released last year, the disc turned out to be one of drummer Elvin Jones's last recordings.) The title song conjures the spirit of Charles Mingus's cheekily titled songs, like "Fables of Faubus"; throughout the rest of the disc, the band runs through a post-bop set, which, while not exactly extending the boundaries of jazz, isn't stuck in the past, either.

Delfeayo's trombone work is nothing to sneeze at, and much more than you'd expect from someone who's spent much of his life in the sound booth. But then, he's a Marsalis, and Marsalises tend to be pretty adept behind musical instruments.

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