The Dark Keys

Branford Marsalis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 29, 1996)
• Original Release Date: October 29, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002BRL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,356 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what jazz is all about, October 11, 2000

By 

Chris Massa (West Chester, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Keys (Audio CD)

I love this CD. But so does everybody else who wrote in about it. So I'll keep this short and to the point.

What I love most about this CD is probably how it sounds live. There are so many jazz CDs that sound like they were recorded in a studio under hot lights playing into a microphone. This isn't necessarily bad, because this is what's really going on. But real jazz is, for me, playing in a basement or a small room, with guys who just want to play and aren't overly concerned about how it sounds. The music on this release is fun, dark, and mind-bogglingly creative. Marsalis asserts himself as a masterful jazz saxophonist, Tain has never sounded better, and, if nothing else, bassist Veal proves that he can follow anybody (even Tain).

Be warned though, that this is not for those half-baked jazz fans out there. If you want music that you can tap your foot to without looking ridiculous, or if you want nice pretty melodies that you will walk away singing, look elsewhere. Not that there's anything wrong with singable melodies. That's just not what's on this CD.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not For The Squeamish, June 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dark Keys (Audio CD)

This has become one of my favorite jazz disks. Dark Keys exhibits Branford Marsalis' return to his hard core, classic jazz roots. An obvious tip of the cap to Coltrane opens the disk. While Marsalis' other work has always been solid, smoke-filled, jazz club fare, this recording cuts to the chase. You will NOT hear this on any "jazz-lite" station that plays Kenny G or other pretenders.

"The new guy" Reggie Veal, ably replaces bassist Bob Hurst, fitting in with Branford and the smokin' Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums. (When watching them play live, Tain is the man of a million intense and expressive faces!) The music of the trio is as if they have been playing together for years. Branford's duet with guest artist Joe Lovano is worth every repeated listen. This is "serious" music but the band's playful, irreverant, wry sense of humor comes across in subtle ways throughout the album...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars one of Branford's better ones, July 16, 2004

By 

B (houston, tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Keys (Audio CD)

Branford Marsalis is an excellent saxophone player, well versed in his roots but with his own sound going on. I know that gets said about everybody, but Branford's ability to be more flexible with form and time than most others is a big selling point. I like his playing, but I usually don't like his albums, which are usually poorly arranged and only half filled with anything worth repeated listening. The Dark Keys is an exception. 7 out of 8 tracks are highly listenable, and the energy is strong throughout.

Tain and Branford have great chemistry, and Tain has a nice reputation of his own as always pushing with an almost Elvin-like intensity, but here, the trio lunges headfirst into some of the most masturbatory and intentionally self-confusing playing I've heard, even from them. I'm not saying that loud and intense playing is bad; on the contrary, I love stuff with some energy, and I think the Love Supreme covers on Footsteps of Our Fathers are better examples of the possibilities. But here the playing gets so far "out" that it doesn't quite make musical sense. It's hard to hear the standards changes behind Hesitation and Schott Happens because of this element.

But this element doesn't make for a bad cd, because it's still one of the most continually listenable cds Branford has ever put out. The title track is exciting, but among the songs that are easy to follow, Lykief is an excellent free tempo piece (and better than the version on Requiem), Blutain swings like anything, and the guest appearances could be the best on the album. Joe Lovano makes an appearance on the medium uptempo Sentinel, and Kenny Garrett joins Branford on the tweaked minor blues Judas Iscariot, which is my favorite song on the whole cd. Both of the guests deliver what you would expect from them, and they fit in well with the driving, free spirited feel of the group.

Overall this cd is very listenable, exciting, and well put together, even if some of its attempts at mind bending grandeur miss their intended target.