Today, it's the sax versus the trumpet. In our weekly Soundcheck Smackdown debate we ask which instrument rules jazz. Also: Branford Marsalis joins us to discuss his new album and the secret to his band's longevity. Plus: composer, conductor and avant-garde icon Pierre Boulez shares his appreciation of Mahler.
Soundcheck Smackdown: Sax or Trumpet?
One means John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and is nicknamed the Devil’s Horn. The other is tied to Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, and also with black masculinity. We’ll debate which instrument had the greater impact in jazz with saxophonist Branford Marsalis and jazz critic Will Layman.
Branford Marsalis
In a jazz world where musical promiscuity is the rule, the Branford Marsalis Quartet has been together for ten years. They celebrate the anniversary with a new album, Metamorphosen, and Grammy award-winner sax player and composer Branford Marsalis joins us to talk about it.
Pierre Boulez
The French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was once the enfant terrible of classical music, an icon to modernist hardliners and uncompromising champion of the most complex music since World War II. Now in his 80s, he’s conducting the traditional music he once militantly opposed, including the symphonies of Mahler. ...
The real jazz icon
At first, today's Smackdown topic seems an easy one to answer. Which instrument has had the bigger impact on jazz, the sax or the trumpet? Gotta be the sax, right? I mean, sure, the trumpet had Louis Armstrong and Clark Terry and Miles Davis. But John Coltrane, Lester Young, Coleman ...