<i> Items are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).</i> : *** BRANFORD MARSALIS “The Music Tells You” <i> Sony Music Video ($19.98)</i>

“You don’t play what you feel,” Branford Marsalis says. “There’s only freedom in structure, my man. There’s no freedom in freedom.”

It’s a remarkable statement of musical philosophy from an artist who--when he became resident bandleader on the new “Tonight Show”--replaced his brother Wynton as the most visible jazz performer in the nation.

This particular expression--one of several such pithy assertions--is among the highlights of an hourlong video documentary, produced with superb attention to detail by cinema verite veterans D. A. Pennebaker (“Don’t Look Back” and “Monterey Pop”) and Chris Hegedus.

The video was filmed in the summer of last year when Marsalis was touring with his trio, which includes Robert Hurst on bass and Jeff (Tain) Watts on drums. It includes moments from a recording session in New York, concerts with Sting and the Grateful Dead, performances by the trio and--most revealing of all--some 3 a.m. on-the-road truck-stop conversations.

Marsalis emerges as a richly eloquent artist with a powerful sense of self and a persistent creative vision. It is a considerably different image from the role he has been cast to play on “Tonight.”