JAZZ REVIEW : Marsalis Joins ‘Tonight’ Bandmates

Sax player Branford Marsalis, who heads the band on TV’s “Tonight Show,” was an unadvertised sideman in the quintet that opened Tuesday at the Cinegrill. The leader was bassist Robert Hurst, also from the “Tonight Show” band. Of the quintet members, only trumpeter Marcus Belgrave isn’t in the TV band.

Hurst, heading this quintet through Saturday, has now emerged as both composer and leader, with an album of his own works just out on Columbia. He’s not only a superb section bassist but a soloist whose unaccompanied version of Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence” was a masterpiece of self-sufficient creativity.

This was a chance for Hurst and his colleagues to really let loose. Their limited opportunities on the television show contrast sharply with the freedom they have playing in a club.

The opening piece was “Down Four the Cause,” a two-horn line opening with a fascinating vamp and moving into a quasi-Ornette Coleman groove. Marsalis was consistently brilliant throughout the set, with every note of each phrase the product of what might be called improvisation on top of improvisation. He switched from tenor to soprano sax on “Bert’s Flirt.”

Trumpeter Belgrave played powerfully, often interplaying with Marsalis in a way that suggested an amiable sword-crossing argument. The rhythm section members--Hurst, pianist Kenny Kirkland and drummer Jeff (Tain) Watts--have worked together for so long that they have achieved a virtual musical ESP.