BUCKSHOT LEFONQUE

When Branford Marsalis decided to stir up a little trouble in 1994 by juxtaposing and fusing mainstream jazz with hip-hop rhythms, rap, R&B, rock, reggae, and half a dozen other idioms, he chose to present his new music under the group name Buckshot LeFonque. This fanciful moniker is actually a resurrection of a pseudonym Cannonball Adderley used in the 1950s when moonlighting on a record label other than his own. The group's eponymous first album, a brilliant, playful, musically rich realization of this anything-goes fusion unfortunately drew a lot of fire from critics in every genre, a situation that Marsalis lamented on the group's equally eclectic yet less striking second album Music Evolution. Nevertheless, Marsalis was so enthused by his new group that he left his high-profile job as bandleader of the Tonight Show in part so that he could tour with Buckshot LeFonque in 1994-1995. The 1997 edition of read more...