Branford Marsalis joins Bruce Hornsby at New Orleans set
Branford Marsalis joined bruce hornsby & The Noisemakers on April 25 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the set turned into a live callback to a relationship that started inside the Grateful Dead orbit in 1990. The guest spot landed on the Fais Do-Do Stage.
They played "The End of Innocence," "Prairie Dog Town," and "Way It Is" with Marsalis on saxophone. Hornsby’s band was supporting Indigo Park, released on April 3, so the festival set doubled as a road test for the new material and a reminder of how often his catalog pulls other players into the room.
From Nassau to Oakland
Marsalis first joined the Grateful Dead on March 29, 1990, at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., when the group played "Eyes of the World." Brent Mydland played his last show with the band on July 23, 1990, and died three days later. Hornsby entered the lineup in September 1990 with Vince Welnick, then met Marsalis on stage for the first time during the Dead’s New Year’s Eve show on Dec. 31, 1990, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
That history gives the New Orleans appearance more than guest-star novelty. Hornsby and Marsalis had already crossed paths on Hornsby’s fourth album, Harbor Lights, where Marsalis appeared on "Talk of the Town," "Long Tall Cool One," and "Rainbow’s Cadillac."
Matt Perrine and Craig Klein
Hornsby also brought out Matt Perrine on tuba and Craig Klein on trombone during the festival set, another sign that this was built as a working band performance rather than a one-off cameo. The horns and low-end brass gave the songs from Indigo Park extra shape without shifting the focus away from Hornsby’s piano.
The set also included "Might As Well Be Me, Florinda," which is described as Hornsby’s final collaboration with the late Bobby Weir, and returned to "Way It Is" as a closing familiar anchor. For listeners, the value is in the continuity: April 25 was not just a festival appearance, but another live chapter in a partnership that has moved from Dead shows to Hornsby records and back again.
