Buckshot LeFonque

In 1994 Branford Marsalis set out to fuse mainstream jazz with hip-hop beats, rap, R&B, rock, reggae and assorted other idioms, electing to issue the hybrid material under the ensemble title Buckshot LeFonque. The name itself revives a nom de plume Cannonball Adderley had adopted in the 1950s whenever he recorded for a company other than his primary label. The self-titled debut disc delivered a witty, sonically expansive embodiment of that unrestricted blend, yet it provoked widespread censure from reviewers across multiple fields—an outcome Marsalis later reflected upon within the band’s second, more uneven though still stylistically wide-ranging effort, Music Evolution. His commitment to the project was deep enough that he resigned his prominent post leading the Tonight Show band in order to take Buckshot LeFonque on the road throughout 1994 and 1995. The 1997 configuration documented on Music Evolution centered on Marsalis himself (saxophones, keyboard and drum programming), DJ Apollo (“wheels o’ steel”), Frank McComb (vocals, keyboards), Carl Burnett (guitar), Russell Gunn (trumpet), Reginald Veal (bass), Rocky Bryant (drums) and 50 Styles: the Unknown Soldier (rap vocals). Among every varied endeavor Marsalis has pursued, none has embodied his singular fusion of technical brilliance and playful irreverence more fully than Buckshot LeFonque.