Saxophonist, composer and producer Branford Marsalis was fed up with it: he had noticed that his record label only had eyes for pop acts that sold well, while his own recordings were hardly promoted or distributed. Frustrated, he forced a break-up with Columbia and started his own Marsalis Music, a label sheltering his own CD’s and those of kindred spirits. From the moment that the New Orleans born saxophonist made his first album in 1984, he has always proved to be a all-round musician. He has a great many jazz albums to his name, is equally at home in classical music and attained huge commercial successes with Buckshot LeFonque. As, for instance, the producer of David Sánchez’s Obsesión, the nestor of the six Marsalis children takes to his work behind the scenes as a fish to water. At the festival Marsalis will be playing music from his latest CD Romare Bearden Revealed, an album that was inspired by the work of the American painter Romare Bearden.
