“My Funny Valentine” (PDF) from the Delfeayo Marsalis album, Kalamazoo

The liner notes for the album Kalamazoo describe the events leading up to Delfeayo Marsalis’ 2015 performance at Western Michigan University as part of the tour for The Last Southern Gentlemen, the 2014 album featuring his father and pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr. The Kalamazoo concert was the quartet’s first performance as a full group, necessitating the use of jazz standards like the Rodgers and Hart ballad, “My Funny Valentine,” to not only showcase the musicians’ depth of repertoire but also to demonstrate their mastery for improvisational music.

In addition to the accounts of Ellis' touring life as an octogenarian, Delfeayo notes that his father's piano introduction on "Valentine" begins in the key of C-minor and modulates gracefully to their preferred key of F-minor. The proceeding interaction between father and son within this performance is so playful that it becomes difficult to hear exactly who is leading and who is following - it is a musical flirtation between two life-long admirers of each other.

Here is a YouTube video of a Delfeayo and Ellis Marsalis performance and interview for The Last Southern Gentlemen:

Recommended reading: The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire by Ted Gioia. Published by Oxford University Press.