StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet

This week, let's take a look at some videos of percussionist Jason Marsalis and his quartet, who will be in St. Louis to perform next Saturday, October 1 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The youngest of the four brothers in the famous New Orleans musical family, Jason Marsalis may not be quite as well known to the general public as his siblings Wynton, Branford, and Delfeayo or his dad Ellis, but over the past 20 years he's had quite a busy career, working steadily both as a drummer (most notably backing pianist Marcus Roberts) and, more recently, as a vibraphonist leading his own quartet and playing with a big band reviving the music of the legendary Lionel Hampton.

You can check out some samples of Marsalis' quartet in today's videos, starting up above with "Didn't Monk Ramble," which was recorded in February of this year for the local TV program New Orleans Live.

After the jump, there are three selections that all were recorded in November 2014 in the studios of radio station KPLU (now KNKX) in Seattle, featuring Marsalis, Will Goble (bass), Austin Johnson (piano), and David Potter (drums). First up is the title track from Marsalis' first album as a leader, "The 21st Century Trad Band," followed by "The Man with Two Left Feet" and "18th Letter of Silence."

Below that, you can see a performance of Marsalis' tune "Blues Can Be Abstract, Too" recorded in 2014 at Louisiana Music Factory in New Orleans, and finally, a song called "Ballet Class" recorded in 2011 at the Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barquisimeto in Spain.

For more about Jason Marsalis, check out this review of his show in August at Ronnie Scott's in London, and the interview that he, his dad, and his brother Delfeayo did in April with Offbeat magazine.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...