50 years after the release of Keith Jarrett’s classic album ‘Belonging’ the Branford Marsalis Quartet conjures an impressive reinterpretation that is both respectful and brimming with excitement

Blue Note 7548661

Branford Marsalis (saxophones); Joey Calderazzo (piano); Eric Revis (bass); Justin Faulkner (drums)
Recorded 25-29 March 2024

1st October 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of the release of Keith Jarrett’s stunning album ‘Belonging’ recorded with his European Quartet with Jan Garbarek (saxophones), Palle Danielsson (bass), Jon Christensen (drums). Jarrett’s biographer Ian Carr wrote “the album Belonging ranks with the greatest recordings in jazz… everything about it is superlative: the compositions, the free-flowing interplay, the level of inspiration and the brilliantly focused improvising of all four musicians.”

At the time of the 1974 release, Marsalis was a freshman in high school, yet to turn his attention to jazz, but undaunted by the classic status of the original his quartet has now conjured an album that is both respectful and brimming with excitement offering fresh interpretations and explorations that command attention.

This is not the first time the quartet has been inspired by Jarrett’s ‘Belonging’. Their previous album ‘The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul’ concluded with a treatment of ‘The Windup’ which served as an entry point to this project. As Marsalis says: “we were all listening to ‘The Windup’ for the last record, and Revis said that we should just record Belonging, the whole album is so great and we could do things with it. We all liked the idea, and then the pandemic came. When the pandemic ended, we all still felt that yeah, we should do this.” And that is exactly what they have done, a reworking of the full album with the same track order, treating the work as an artistic suite.

Clocking in at just over an hour, compared to the original album’s 46 minute running time, the quartet clearly loves the material, enjoying space to develop and run with ideas which instil moments of breathless anticipation. The joy of this album is not just in revisiting favourite compositions with familiar points of departure and arrival, but in the improvisatory roads travelled in-between. Here the journey is everything.

The three up-tempo numbers – ‘Spiral Dance’, ‘Long As You Know You’re Living Yours’ and ‘The Windup’ – are all given significantly more time to explore, exuding joyous energy and a slowly rising temperature. On ‘Spiral Dance’ fine soloing by Calderazzo on piano is interwoven with Revis’s swirling basslines and Faulkner’s tireless drum work before Marsalis joins the dance adding extra heat and developing the theme through to its conclusion.

‘Long As You Know You’re Living Yours’ sets off with an impressive blues swagger before breaking melody around Marsalis’s revolving solo which builds and builds before Calderazzo extends the excursion, then progressively nudging a return to the melody.

‘The Windup’ sees Calderazzo, Revis and Faulkner building up a head of steam, playing as if their lives depended on it, before Marsalis returns to signal a temporary phase of dissonance and breakdown then leading a seemingly change of direction. The melody seems out of reach but is progressively hinted at just beneath the surface. Faulkner’s fine drum solo brings things towards a resolution and a return to home.

The intervening ballads provide respite and important contrast. On ‘Blossom’, Calderazzo’s delicacy and Marsalis’s plaintive tone provide moments of real poignancy and emotion. ‘Belonging’ is a beautiful piece, and on this album is much extended, allowing a very rewarding exploration of the themes.

‘Soltice’ concludes the work and is perhaps the most complex piece on the album. Marsalis’s searching sax plays over rolling drums and piano explorations, a lone voice in the wilderness. A collective storm builds, before order eventually emerges with a sense of uplift and hope.

Ultimately, the album leaves the listener wanting more for all of the right reasons and there is a chance to catch the quartet live this summer as they tour the US, Canada and Europe