Four guys playing tunes. The title of the latest, hugely successful record by Branford Marsalis, Four MFs Playin’ Tunes, could be translated a lot more coarsely than this, it’s true – and yet there’s Marsalis on the album cover in his smart tie and trousers. His hair may have thinned somewhat since we saw him in that video for Sting’s Englishman in New York, but the sound of his saxophone, far from diminishing, captivates and commands respect with an elemental force and dynamic clarity.
In one respect, this is a debut for the 54-year-old, three-time Grammy Award-winning Marsalis at the Palace of Arts, as it’s his first appearance here with his own band as a full-blooded jazz musician. In another sense, it isn’t, given that he featured on stage as soloist with the Magyar Telekom Symphony Orchestra in a classical concert at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall back in the year of Müpa’s opening.
On Four MFs, Marsalis – who a few years ago also excelled as a composer for the theatre in a Broadway play starring Samuel L. Jackson – blends together the virtues of his earlier quartet recordings. The new record finds room for both the depths explored in the ballads on 2004’s Eternal and the sparkling energy on 2006’s Braggtown, and pays tribute to jazz traditions alongside original compositions. All this awaits the audience at Müpa, courtesy of these four guys.

Presented by: Palace of Arts