Esbenshade Series events are FREE, but seat reservations are recommended. Limit ten (10) tickets per person.
Join us for a special, free Marietta College Esbenshade Series concert with the Branford Marsalis Quaret with Kurt Elling. The Branford Marsalis Quartet will be joined by guest-vocalist Kurt Elling in a singular collaboration of musical forces. What has emerged from the partnership, after an intense week of performance and recording in New Orleans, is a new album, entitled Upward Spiral. This collection blends Songbook staples, jazz standards, and standards-to-be from a diverse array of composers. Every track on Upward Spiral confirms the beyond-category strengths of both the Quartet and Elling. The tight-knit working band featuring Marsalis on saxophones, Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass, and Justin Faulkner on drums form a nearly telepathically cohesive unit. The addition of Elling’s deep jazz vocabulary, technical versatility, and outstanding intonation enables the band to perform a variety of material in new ways.
