Branford Marsalis and Quartet to Showcase FOUR MFS PLAYIN' TUNES at Jorgensen, 2/7

Related: Branford Marsalis, Four MFs Playin' Tunes, Jorgensen

The three-time Grammy winner has mastered all voices of the sax and comfortably moves between jazz, rock and classical genres.

His album Creation, released in 2001, closely connected him to classical music. He has played as a feature soloist with leading orchestras in Chicago, Detroit and Düsseldorf and with the Boston Pops.

In 2008 he toured the United States with Philharmonia Brasileira playing solo sax and orchestra compositions by Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos. In 2009 he and quartet members joined the North Carolina Symphony to record American Spectrum, and in 2010 Marsalis debuted in Central Park with the New York Philharmonic.

He appeared in Spike Lee's School Daze in 1988 and coined the signature line, "You're damned skippy," meaning "damned right." In 2010 he was nominated for Drama Desk and Tony awards for his original score in the revival of August Wilson's Fences on Broadway. Marsalis also was asked to score the 2011 Broadway premiere of The Mountaintop Starring Samuel Jackson and Angela Bassett.

Last May, Marsalis received an honorary doctor of music degree from the University of North Carolina and has had appointments at Michigan State, San Francisco State and North Carolina Central University. In June, he and fellow New Orleans native Harry Connick Jr. were honored for their post-Katrina work in the Musicians' Village of New Orleans, which included the centerpiece Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, named for his father. Marsalis also performed The National anthem at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.

Beyond all this, Marsalis has introduced his Marsalis Jams, including an ongoing series at Berklee College of Music, in an effort to bring leading jazz ensembles into Education circles.

This evening with Branford Marsalis and his Quartet is sponsored by WFCR/New England Public Radio.

Jorgensen was named Best College/University Performing Arts Center in the Hartford Advocate Best of Hartford Readers' Poll for 2012, and was recently named a Reader's Choice Winner by the Mansfield-Storrs Patch.

Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts is located at 2132 Hillside Road on the UConn campus in Storrs. Ticket prices are $39, $35 and $32, with some discounts available. For tickets and information, call The Box Office at 860.486.4226, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., or order online at jorgensen.uconn.edu. Convenient, free parking is available across the street in the North Garage.

Pictured: Branford Marsalis (c) Eric Ryan Anderson.

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