When
Branford Marsalis 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
Cannonball Adderley 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
Marsalis lamented on the group's equally eclectic yet less striking second album
Music Evolution. Nevertheless,
Marsalis 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
Buckshot, as heard on
Music Evolution, contains a nucleus of
Marsalis (saxophones, keyboard, and drum programming),
DJ Apollo ("wheels o' steel"),
Frank McComb (vocals, keyboards),
Carl Burnett (guitar),
Russell Gunn (trumpet),
Reginald Veal (bass),
Rocky Bryant (drums), and 50 Styles: the Unknown Soldier (rap vocals). Of all of
Marsalis' diverse pursuits, none project his unique combination of virtuosity and irreverence as completely as
Buckshot LeFonque. ~ Richard S. Ginell