DAVID WAKEFIELD A fine Norfolk and Norwich Festival jazz element was brought to a triumphant ending by this memorable concert, with Norfolk fans fortunate to hear one of the present-day giants of the genre.

DAVID WAKEFIELD

A fine Norfolk and Norwich Festival jazz element was brought to a triumphant ending by this memorable concert at St Andrew's Hall,Norwich, with Norfolk fans fortunate to hear one of the present-day giants of the genre.

Although he has not achieved the acclaim of his brother Wynton, Branford Marsalis showed just why he is so highly regarded.

A fluent, imaginative and inventive performer on tenor and soprano saxophones, he also composes and arranges, and, like Wynton, has a considerable aptitude for the classical side.

The quartet (with Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass and Jeff 'Tain' Watts on drums) got things off to a fine start with Watts's Mr JJ, in which Calderazzo showed off his bustling style to good effect. And although Marsalis can mix it with the best in this type of material, it was on two slower ballads, played on soprano, that his lyrical skills were ideally displayed. Gloomy Sunday was as good as you would hear anywhere.