June 23, 2007

Delfeayo steps into limelight
By Ashante Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic, TheStar.com

Word is after 25 years establishing himself as a Grammy Award winning record producer, Delfeayo Marsalis has decided to focus on a career as a trombonist.

But when the Star catches up with the fourth of six sons of the musical Marsalis clan – in advance of his headlining debut at the Toronto Jazz Festival Friday night at 8 at Nathan Phillips Square – it's on the set of a biopic about legendary New Orleans cornetist Buddy Bolden.

"I am producing the soundtrack, but right now I'm actually serving as a consultant to the actors, helping them to look like musicians," said the genial 41-year-old by phone from Wilmington, N.C.

"You get these bands sometimes in the movies that look terrible, so we're trying to combine the theatrical along with the musical. I'm working with them on how to hold the instruments, how to make it believable that these guys created such vibrant and joyous music."

The New Orleans native, who has more than 100 recordings to his name as producer and engineer for elder brothers Branford and Wynton, father Ellis and others, is a seasoned, if under-recorded musician. He toured with Elvin Jones, Max Roach and Ray Charles, evoking a sound compared to trombone titans J.J. Johnson and Jimmy Knepper.

"All of my training and what I've done over the years has lead me up to this point," said Marsalis of the relationship between his playing and his role with the Bolden flick, which includes an on-camera appearance.

"I consider myself more of a presenter of the music and I use the trombone as part of that presentation. That's why I can work with these actors so well, because I see that all of us have the theatrical, the musical impulse. I think that it's important to have individuals like Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, people who are more interested in the presentation of the music.

"In playing music, most things are about the conceptualization; practicing is important to get your technique to the point where you can express what your concept is. I've always kept the chops up but, more importantly, I've been developing my concept of performance.

"You find a lot of the great big band arrangers were trombone players. The trombonist is always kind of the mild-mannered (person), the organizer, the keeper of the peace. We sit in the middle of the band. I think the trombone, much more so than other instruments, lends itself to diversity."

The quintet he's bringing to Toronto will serve up several of the original tunes that comprise last year's Minions Dominion, his first album in a decade.

With a mind to Thelonious Monk's penchant for quirky song names, the title track was derived from an unexpected source.

"I was watching MTV Cribs – seeing all these guys with these big houses that all look the same: theatre room, pool, somebody cooking the food, and they have a lot of minions, folks hanging out with them. So Minions Dominion is an MTV crib."

Contemporary inspiration aside, the music on the album is steeped in traditional bop. The disc was recorded in 2002 with master drummer Elvin Jones (who died in 2004), altoist Donald Harrison, tenor brother Branford, pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassists Bob Hurst and Eric Revis.

"The great recordings are always about chemistry. I wanted musicians who were familiar with the tradition of music and also had an understanding of modern playing, but that would be complementary to myself and, of course, Mr. Jones."

But the music was shelved when Marsalis returned to university to pursue a Masters in music performance.

"I've always excelled in educational environments and school is the easiest way to shift gears. I was out there playing with Elvin and I could have just started doing my own gigs, but I decided that it was a good time to work on my orchestration and my arranging and to just to kind of refocus. It was the greatest thing I could have done. I emphasized mostly classical and European tradition. Had I just gone and studied jazz, what I knew, it could've been a cakewalk."

Did the sabbatical strengthen his abilities?

"For sure. Even working on this movie is a prime example of how all of the experiences in your life fuel whatever the situation is. That's something that Elvin always would talk about: the importance of channelling all of the energy of your experiences and bringing that to the bandstand."

Minions Dominion, which was released on Marsalis's own label, Troubadour Jass, lists brother Branford as a producer. "That was a joke, actually: Branford doesn't produce, he kind of comes and takes over.

"He gave me my first opportunity to produce on a major label, so I thought it would be nice to give him the credit, even though he just came in and bossed me around ... in a sense he was a producer."

On Friday, Marsalis's group will open for noted saxist Joshua Redman, who played on his acclaimed 1992 debut disc Pontius Pilate's Decision, along with the three other musical Marsalis brothers (including drummer Jason, then 14).

"It's ironic that we're playing before Joshua. It's a little known fact that I was the first one to actually give him a gig. He played with me between 1989-90 after he graduated from Harvard.

"I was also the first one to fire him after we had a slight musical disagreement. Then he went on to win the (prestigious career-making) Monk competition in 1991. The rest is history."

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