SCFTA Presents Branford Marsalis Quartet & Yuko Mabuchi Trio

Segerstrom Center for the Arts presents an incredible evening of jazz featuring the Branford Marsalis Quartet and Yuko Mabuchi Trio for one performance only on January 25, 2019 at 8:00pm. Led by Jazz Master and Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis, the quartet was declared by the Associated Press as "one of the most cohesive, intense small jazz ensembles on the scene today." Quartet members include Joey Calderazzo, piano; Eric Revis, bass; and Justin Faulkner, drums. Opening the program is pianist Yuko Mabuchi whose trio of musicians includes Del Atkins on bass and Bobby Breton on drums.

Single tickets start at $59 and are now available online at www.SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings of 10 or more, please call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds the KJAZZ 88.1 for its support of the Jazz Series and its corporate partners including Kia Motors America, Official Automotive Partner; United Airlines, Official Airline; and Omaha Steaks International, Official Fine Food Retailer.

Branford Marsalis has stayed the course. From his early acclaim as a saxophonist bringing new energy and new audiences to jazz, he has refined and expanded his talents and his horizons as a musician, composer, bandleader and educator - a 21st Century mainstay of artistic excellence.

Growing up in the rich environment of New Orleans as the oldest son of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, Branford was drawn to music along with siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. His first instrument, the clarinet, gave way to the alto and then the tenor and soprano saxophones when the teenage Branford began working in local bands. A growing fascination with jazz as he entered college gave him the basic tools to obtain his first major jobs, with trumpet legend Clark Terry and alongside Wynton in Art Blakey's legendary Jazz Messengers. When the brothers left to form the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, the world of uncompromising acoustic jazz was invigorated. Branford formed his own quartet in 1986 and, with a few minor interruptions in the early years, has sustained the unit as his primary means of expression. Known for the telepathic communication among its uncommonly consistent personnel, its deep book of original music replete with expressive melodies and provocative forms, and an unrivaled spirit in both live and recorded performances, the Branford Marsalis Quartet has long been recognized as the standard to which other ensembles of its kind must be measured.

The Quartet rarely invites other musicians into the folds of their cohesive unit, but in December 2015, they were joined by guest-vocalist Kurt Elling for a weekend's engagement at New Orleans' Snug Harbor. This culminated with three days in the studios of the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music where, energized by the artistic promise of this collaboration, the musicians all contributed new arrangements to record with this special line-up. The result can be heard on their June 2016 release, Upward Spiral, which has been nominated for a 2017 Grammy Award in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Branford has not confined his music to the quartet context. In addition to guest turns with a legion of giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins, he has excelled in duets with several major pianists, including his boyhood friend Harry Connick, Jr. and the longtime pianist in his quartet, Joey Calderazzo. Branford's first solo concert, at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, is documented on his 2014 recording, In My Solitude.

Classical music inhabits a growing portion of Branford's musical universe. With a repertoire including works by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem, Vaughan Williams, Villa-Lobos and Sally Beamish (who reconceived a work in progress, "Under the Wing of the Rock," to feature Branford's saxophone after hearing him perform one of her earlier pieces), Branford is frequently heard with leading symphony orchestras including those in Chicago, Detroit, Dusseldorf and North Carolina as well as the New York Philharmonic. He also served as Creative Director for the Cincinnati Symphony's Ascent series in 2012-13.

Broadway has also welcomed Branford's contributions. His initial effort, original music for a revival of August Wilson's Fences, garnered a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play and a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score Written for the Theater. Branford also provided music for The Mountaintop, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, and served as musical curator for the 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Branford's screen credits include the original music for Mo' Better Blues and acting roles in School Daze and Throw Momma from the Train.

Branford formed the Marsalis Music label in 2002, and under his direction it has documented his own music, talented new stars such as Miguel Zenón, and un-heralded older masters including one of Branford's teachers, the late Alvin Batiste. Branford has also shared his knowledge as an educator, forming extended teaching relationships at Michigan State, San Francisco State and North Carolina Central Universities and conducting workshops at sites throughout the United States and the world.

As for other public stages, Branford spent a period touring with Sting, collaborated with the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby, served as Musical Director of The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno and hosted National Public Radio's widely syndicated Jazz Set. The range and quality of these diverse activities established Branford as a familiar presence beyond the worlds of jazz and classical music, while his efforts to help heal and rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina mark him as an artist with an uncommonly effective social vision. Together with Harry Connick, Jr. and New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, Branford conceived and helped to realize The Musicians' Village, a community in the Upper Ninth Ward that provides homes to the displaced families of musicians and other local residents. At the heart of The Musicians' Village stands the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a community center dedicated to preserving the rich New Orleans musical legacy containing state-of-the art spaces for performance, instruction and recording.

Some might gauge Branford Marsalis's success by his numerous awards, including three Grammys and (together with his father and brothers) his citation as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. To Branford, however, these are only weigh stations along what continues to be one of the most fascinating and rewarding journeys in the world of music.

Yuko Mabuchi started playing classical piano at age of 4, in her hometown of Fukui, Japan. As a teenager she was fascinated by American, Hip-Hop and Blues. After hearing the music of Oscar Peterson and Herbie Hancock she fell in love with Jazz and after high school she entered the AN Music School in Kyoto to study jazz piano under Kunihiro Kameda. After graduating from the conservatory, she began performing locally as a soloist, and as a member of a local jazz trio.

In 2010, Yuko arrived in Los Angeles to study at the Music Performance Academy (MPA) in Alhambra, CA. While studying in LA she had the opportunity to showcase her talent at some of LA's top venues, including the Catalina Jazz Bar, Downtown Biltmore Hotel, Pasadena Levitt Pavilion Concert Series.

Yuko recorded her first CD entitled Waves (Vista Records, 2011) which was a collection of original compositions. Returning to Japan in 2013, she performed with her trio at the Jazz Spot J Shinjuku in Tokyo, the Fukui Jazz Festival, Osaka/Neyagawa Jazz Convention '14, Mokkiriya and Riverside in Kanazawa and appeared monthly as a soloist at Keio Plaza, Tokyo.

After returning to the US to record My Life (Vista Records, 2014) her second collection of original compositions, she has developed a reputation as a "virtuoso pianist who is extremely entertaining and exciting to watch." My Life features Latin Jazz great, flutist Justo Almario and Smooth Jazz saxophonist Andre Delano.

Her most recent project, The Yuko Mabuchi Trio (Yarlung Records, 2017) was recorded LIVE at the Brain and Creativity Institute's Cammilleri Hall (USC) and was released on vinyl record, as well as CD. This project features Del Atkins on bass and Bob Breton on drums: www.yarlungrecords.com

Yuko also donates her time as the accompanist for the Watts-Willowbrook Conservatory and Youth Symphony, a music program that offers training to youngsters in LAs inner city: www.sappa.net

In 2017 she was invited to perform as a featured soloist with ICYOLA, under the direction of Charles Dickerson, at Disney Hall in Los Angeles. She is a sensational and captivating pianist who consistently treats her audience to the highest quality of music performance.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence, offering unsurpassed experiences and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring arts-based education and community engagement programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.

Segerstrom Center is a leader among the nation's performing arts centers for providing education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. The Center's programs reach hundreds of thousands of students each year in five Southern California counties. Community engagement programs developed through the Center for Dance and Innovation and Center Without Boundaries also connect the Center more comprehensively with Orange County's many diverse communities. The CDI supports flagship artistic programming and a wide range of projects that celebrate innovation, nurture creativity and engage audiences of the future. It is home to the ABT Gillespie School and the School of Dance and Music for Children with Disabilities. The Center Without Boundaries develops partnerships with non-cultural organizations to help them in their own efforts to respond to the ever-changing needs of the community.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons performed at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

In addition to Segerstrom Center for the Arts as a presenting and producing institution, it also identifies the beautiful 14-acre campus that embraces the Center's own facilities as well as two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Branford Marsalis Quartet and Yuko Mabuchi Trio
Segerstrom Center for the Arts - Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
Friday, January 25, 2019 at 8:00pm

600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA

Tickets - Start at $59
In person - The Box Office
600 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Open 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily
Online - SCFTA.org
Phone - (714) 556-2787
Open 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily
Group Sales - (714) 755-0236

Information provided is accurate at the time of printing but is subject to change. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is a public, non-profit organization. "Segerstrom Center for the Arts" is a registered trademark.

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