Buckshot LeFonque

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Buckshot LeFonque was a music project led by Branford Marsalis. The name comes from a pseudonym used by Cannonball Adderley on an old album. Marsalis wanted to fuse jazz with rock, pop, R&B and hip-hop. The project started as a collaboration with DJ Premier. In 1992, Marsalis moved to Los Angeles to work as the Musical Director for The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno. He invited DJ Premier and engineer Ben Austin to his home and started writing the album. He formed a band from players in The Tonight Show Band, including Jeff "Tain" Watts, Robert Hurst, Kenny Kirland and Kevin Eubanks. They recorded at Sony Studios in Los Angeles in 1993. Two albums followed: Buckshot LeFonque (1994), mostly produced by DJ Premier, and Music Evolution (1997), with Frank McComb on vocals. Frequent collaborators included Delfeayo Marsalis and rapper Raie Dacosta. The group was active mainly in the 1990s.