Jason Marsalis :Vibraphone Born: March 4, 1977
So a while back I came across the album In a World of Mallets by Jason Marsalis. I listened to the album because the lead instrument was a vibraphone and not because of the name Marsalis. In fact I didn’t even make the connection until today, when I was reading about Jason, who is celebrating his thirty-ninth (39) birthday today. I read that Jason was in fact the youngest of the famous Marsalis family ,led by father Ellis and includes brothers Wynton, Bradford and Delfeayo!. I felt a little better about not knowing who he was after I read at All About Jazz that…..
(Jason) Marsalis is the mostly “unknown” part of one of jazz music’s first families, but is spot-on with his artistry on In A World Of Mallets.
About Jason Marsalis
Jason Marsalis has been throughout his career has primarily been a drummer and percussionist.He started his musical career playing with the Marcus Roberts Trio in 1995. In 1998 he became a founding member of the highly successful Los Hombres Calientes. Jason was with the band which features Latin jazz rhythms flavored with Brazilian and Afro-Cuban soul for the first two albums and then left in 2000 before the band received its first Grammy nomination to focus more on the work of the Marcus Roberts Trio. This was around the time that Marsalis began playing vibes. During this period he was recorded playing the vibes with clarinetist Tim Laughlin and drummer Shannon Powell. In addition he began leading his own band, playing vibes
Marsalis stayed busy over the next few years. He spent part of the time in Japan. He spent another helping his hometown of New Orléans. As he aided the city’s recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.You can read his complete biography here
About In a World of MalletsÂ
I
n a World of Mallets was released in March of 2013. The album rose to number 1 on the CMJ Radio Charts. The album also won an Offbeat Magazine award, a New Orleans music magazine, for best Contemporary Jazz Album. On the album Marsalis plays marimba, glockenspiel, tubular bells, vibraphone, xylophone. Supporting Jason on the album are: Will Goble: bass; David Potter: drums; Austin Johnson: piano. Matt Collar at AllMusic writes…
…. Marsalis leads them through a handful of his own original compositions (and some by his band mates) that reveal his own bent toward mixing urbane classical themes, bluesy swing, and contrapuntal post-bop sections. In that sense, tracks like the epic “Blues Can Be Abstract, Too,” and the jaunty “Blues for the 29%ers,” bring to mind work of his brother’s Wynton and Branford. This is especially true when the band moves back and forth, doubling up the time between phrases in a kind of fractured, slightly outré post-Thelonious Monk swing style. Which isn’t to say this is avant-garde music.
However, there is kind of a cerebral, yet playful classical aesthetic at work on In a World of Mallets. This is perhaps best displayed on the opening and ending cuts, “Discipline Discovers a World of Mallets,” and “Discipline Gets Lost in a World of Mallets,” in which Marsalis layers his vibes and bells and various percussion instruments to create a kind of chamber jazz sound Full Review
Final Thoughts
Well, that explains, why I didn’t really like this album that much the first time I heard it! At first, I thought the album was a little more avant garde than what I usually listen to. However, I did listen to the album more closely today and found I liked several of the tracks. Although, I thought that at times the music was a little too carnival sounding for my taste. But I will reserve final judgment though  until I’ve listened to the album a few more times. So that I don’t say I don’t like it.  Then need to eat my words, like I’ve done many times before!!!
So Happy Birthday, Jason Marsalis!! Â Let’s listen to Jason and the Vibes Quartet perform “Ballet Class” from In a World of Mallets!