Ryan Hanseler featuring Jason Marsalis
Blues Alley
Monday, Aug. 19, 2024

As much as jazz is built around experimentation and innovation, paying homage to one’s predecessors remains an important part of its practice. Blues Alley, D.C.’s most storied jazz club, is a perfect venue for this kind of endeavor; its walls are plastered with signed portraits and albums by artists who have graced the club’s stage in years past. And when it comes to jazz history, New Orleans is the No. 1 place to look.

On the overcast evening of Monday, Aug. 19, an enthusiastic if not completely packed crowd at Blues Alley was treated to a passionate tribute to the music of New Orleans. The band was led by pianist Ryan Hanseler and aided by a special guest, drummer Jason Marsalis, himself a scion of one of the city’s most famous jazz families.

This show was part of the club’s ongoing “Emerging Artist Mondays,” which seeks to showcase up-and-coming jazz musicians in and around the District. Since Blues Alley’s reopening after COVID-19 lockdowns, its bookings have often tilted toward smooth jazz — making more straight-ahead performances like Hanseler’s feel noteworthy. The Monday-night series is perhaps the one reliable carveout on Blues Alley’s current calendar for high-quality, thoroughgoing jazz.

Hanseler, who relocated to the DMV from New Orleans only last year, is currently the pianist for the Navy Commodores Big Band. He was joined on Monday by two other Commodores members, bassist Will Ledbetter and tenor saxophonist Justin Mendez, hailing from New York and Virginia, respectively. Rounding out the horn section was Baltimore-based trumpeter Brandon Woody, a rising star who more typically appears as a leader than as a sideman these days, playing frequently with his ensemble UPENDO. (Woody and his group will return to town on Sep. 8 to kick off Sycamore & Oak’s “Jazz in the Heights” concert series in Congress Heights.)

Hanseler studied at North Carolina Central University under Jason Marsalis’s brother Branford, the renowned saxophonist. He then got his professional start in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and there developed a kinship with Jason Marsalis, having met him while playing in clubs around Nola.

In fact, each member of the quintet has history with members of the Marsalis family. Ledbetter recently toured with Branford’s quintet, while Mendez has performed with trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis’s band. In 2020, Woody recorded with Jasper Marsalis (son of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis) for the latter’s experimental project Slauson Malone 1.

“Whenever people think of New Orleans music, they think of traditional style, like Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, or the Preservation Hall Jazz Band,” Jason Marsalis told CapitalBop in a short interview the night of the show. “But a lot of people don’t know about the music [of] my father, who composed, and music from a drummer that he used by the name of James Black, [and] people like Alvin Batiste and Howard Batiste.”

All of these artists received dedications in the setlist. The evening’s first honoree was Ellis Marsalis, the late father of Jason (as well as his famous musician brothers, Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo) and an important pianist and educator starting in the 1950s. The band honored him by kicking off the performance with a tune entitled “Precious.” (Though it is often credited to Branford Marsalis, Jason attributed the tune to their father.)

Right away, the ensemble exhibited effortless interplay between the members of the rhythm and horn sections. A real sense of camaraderie could be sensed between all, especially Woody and Mendez, who were visibly impressed by each other’s solos throughout the evening.

Woody seems to put his entire personality into his playing, often relying on repetitive, furious passages when soloing. He can occasionally sound reminiscent of Miles Davis during his electric period. Mendez’s stylings were also intense, materializing in cascading melodies and often reaching into the upper register to achieve a squealing effect, similar to John Coltrane’s brand of avant-garde improvising.

After finishing this first piece, the band turned to Hanseler for what would be the first of several extensive piano solos throughout the evening, allowing him to showcase a staggering virtuosity that elsewhere in the performance often sat purposefully behind others’ playing.

That extended solo transitioned seamlessly into the second piece, composed by James Black, which featured a fittingly passionate performance from Jason Marsalis — who studied with Black starting at the age of six. Another performance further down the setlist featured a drawn-out drum solo from Jason Marsalis, who played frantically, as though he was trying to prove something to the audience.

“Orchid Blue,” a notable composition by Ellis Marsalis, which Jason Marsalis recorded with his father on several occasions, was played as a trio, with Mendez and Woody sitting out. Ledbetter took center stage on this tune, offering a lengthy and intense bass solo, during which he audibly exclaimed after some daring passages.

Toward the end of the first set, the band paused for Hanseler to thank the audience and say a few words about the ethos behind the evening’s Nola-centric setlist. He spoke on coming up in the Big Easy and watching Ellis Marsalis play.

“It was an amazing experience getting to see him week after week and learn this amazing breadth of music that he left for everyone,” he told the audience, before remarking on how fitting it was to be joined by Ellis’ son Jason.

By the evening’s conclusion, the group had compellingly conveyed Hanseler’s sentiments — proving that there is still some vibrant life left in the old legacies.

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