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When <a href="spotify:artist:1gPY6jETlC02stpXOUmSBH">Branford Marsalis</a> decided to stir up a little trouble in 1994 by juxtaposing and fusing mainstream jazz with hip-hop rhythms, rap, R&B, rock, reggae, and half a dozen other idioms, he chose to present his new music under the group name Buckshot LeFonque. This fanciful moniker is actually a resurrection of a pseudonym <a href="spotify:artist:5v74mT11KGJqadf9sLw4dA">Cannonball Adderley</a> used in the 1950s when moonlighting on a record label other than his own. The group's eponymous first album, a brilliant, playful, musically rich realization of this anything-goes fusion unfortunately drew a lot of fire from critics in every genre, a situation that <a href="spotify:artist:1gPY6jETlC02stpXOUmSBH">Marsalis</a> lamented on the group's equally eclectic yet less striking second album Music Evolution. Nevertheless, <a href="spotify:artist:1gPY6jETlC02stpXOUmSBH">Marsalis</a> was so enthused by his new group that he left his high-profile job as bandleader of the Tonight Show in part so that he could tour with Buckshot LeFonque in 1994-1995. The 1997 edition of <a href="spotify:artist:5Fc4E9FtAoP4UHXWh6oLpS">Buckshot</a>, as heard on Music Evolution, contains a nucleus of <a href="spotify:artist:1gPY6jETlC02stpXOUmSBH">Marsalis</a> (saxophones, keyboard, and drum programming), <a href="spotify:artist:0kSbMtOFQKxQ7FAjaZ0F5G">DJ Apollo</a> ("wheels o' steel"), <a href="spotify:artist:0wbDq3eOvenJ6l0gYhUNqt">Frank McComb</a> (vocals, keyboards), <a href="spotify:artist:2NG1N0P4U2WY52Ppi4jMji">Carl Burnett</a> (guitar), <a href="spotify:artist:17XYgRhCyRrZF0HF19pStk">Russell Gunn</a> (trumpet), <a href="spotify:artist:6yAxgJZxxxrAjplbOglvF4">Reginald Veal</a> (bass), Rocky Bryant (drums), and 50 Styles: the Unknown Soldier (rap vocals). Of all of <a href="spotify:artist:1gPY6jETlC02stpXOUmSBH">Marsalis</a>' diverse pursuits, none project his unique combination of virtuosity and irreverence as completely as Buckshot LeFonque. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi
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