(WAYNE, NJ) -- Jazz Room & WP Presents Branford Marsalis Quartet on Thursday, February 26, 2026 at Shea Center for Performing Arts. Showtime is 7:30pm. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis is one of the most influential and revered figures in contemporary music.
The NEA Jazz Master, Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee is equally at home performing concertos with symphony orchestras and sitting in with members of the Grateful Dead, but the core of his musical universe remains the Branford Marsalis Quartet.
After more than three decades of existence with minimal personnel changes, this celebrated ensemble is revered for its uncompromising interpretation of a kaleidoscopic range of both original compositions and jazz and popular classics. Following the Grammy‐nominated Upward Spiral, on which guest vocalist Kurt Elling was seamlessly integrated into the group, the Quartet returned with the Grammy‐nominated The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, its most emotionally wide‐ranging and melody driven collection to date.
Tickets range from $50-$78 and are available for purchase online. Shea Center for Performing Arts is located at 300 Pompton Road in Wayne, New Jersey.
John Zeugner captured the impact of the Quartet in live performance in a recent concert review, calling it “casually confident, professional, cerebral, and supercharged with energy. The Branford Marsalis Quartet...was all of those adjectives and more.”
This spring the Quartet makes its Blue Note Records debut with the March 28 release of Belonging, a full album interpretation of Keith Jarrett’s 1974 ECM album of the same name.
The Shea Center for Performing Arts is an intimate 922-seat theater built in 1965. The theater boasts a customized, state-of-the-art sound system, computerized lighting system and a unique seating/stage configuration that ensures a close performer/audience connection. Shea Center is air-conditioned and handicapped accessible
A wide variety of University events and visiting artists have appeared at the Center from legendary rock icon David Crosby, to the jazz great, Wynton Marsalis, from Margaret Thatcher to Stephen Sondheim. Each season the University Performing Arts produced WP Presents! hosts dozens of professional artists including musicians, theatre troupes and family artists representing a wide variety of genres. The Jazz Room Series features renowned and emerging jazz performers, as well as students from the University’s highly acclaimed jazz program. The Distinguished Lecturer Series presents an exciting line-up of speakers on topical issues ranging from the arts and culture to sports and politics in distinctive formats that enhance the link between the speakers and the audience. Other events held in Shea Center can be found here.
