Two nights after the Branford Marsalis Quartet’s UMS debut, Branford brings his classical chops to Rackham Auditorium in a chamber music evening featuring two members of the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance community: saxophone professor Timothy McAllister and collaborative pianist Liz Ames.

Growing up in the rich environment of New Orleans as the oldest son of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, Branford was drawn to music along with his younger siblings Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason. His first instrument, the clarinet, gave way to the alto, and then the tenor and soprano saxophones; from there, he expanded his musical universe and now fully embraces both jazz and Western classical music, in addition to a burgeoning career as a composer. When asked a few years ago whether he finds classical music or jazz harder, the saxophonist said, “Classical is harder. Jazz is like a story that you personalize, but classical is a story where you can’t use your own words. It’s like reading Shakespeare or Chaucer. You have to develop the characters to make them believable, but the words aren’t yours, and you’re not going to change [them].”