*** Branford Marsalis Quartet

REQUIEM

(Columbia)

At about four and a half minutes into Marsalis's new album, the leader (on tenor saxophone) and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts break into a squall of bicycling, thundering passion -- Marsalis all scorching, rhythmic deep-tenor rasp, Watts matching his phrases volley for volley. If John Coltrane and Elvin Jones come to mind, so be it. Marsalis isn't about inventing a new vocabulary (despite his jazz-pop Buckshot LeFonque) but about working the modern tradition. On Requiem he invests himself in every word of that modern vocabulary, constantly playing with rhythmic patterns, inflections, accents, the shined or burred surface of every note and phrase. Long-time collaborators Watts and Kenny Kirkland are key here, and newcomer Eric Reavis has no trouble fitting in (Kirkland died before the album's completion). Highlights aside from the opener ("Doctone," named for Kirkland) include an astute Keith Jarrett tribute ("Lykief") and a piano-less trio ("Elysium") that conjures Sonny Rollins's playful best.

-- Jon Garelick