Branford Marsalis: Elysium

Seven notes from Branford Marsaliss tenor sax seven notes announce Elysium, the seventh of which is joined by the piano, bass and drum. Then a squeal and a swirl of chaos from all four musicians. This is just the beginning. Marsaliss 16-minute composition is a tour de force of contemporary jazz not smooth jazz, mind you; the album title is a stick in the eye to those who try to categorize. Marsalis then launches into a wild solo that has him playing against the super-fast 5/4 time put down by the rhythm section. The bridge or is it the chorus? induces whiplash with its speed-up-then-abruptly-slow-down mechanism. Drummer Jeff Tain Watts is phenomenal throughout this mind-bending journey. One has to wonder how many takes it took the quartet to get this complex tune right. It couldnt have been one. Could it?