Say Hey is an original composition by Branford Marsalis, written for the soundtrack of Spike Lee's 1990 film Mo' Better Blues. The tune is a hard-swinging blues vehicle performed at a brisk tempo, built on the standard twelve-bar blues form and designed to showcase the improvisational energy of the Branford Marsalis Quartet. It first appeared on the album Music from Mo' Better Blues, released on Columbia Records and produced by Delfeayo Marsalis, with Branford Marsalis on tenor saxophone, Terence Blanchard on trumpet, Kenny Kirkland on piano, Robert Hurst on bass, and Jeff Watts on drums. The film depicts a fictional jazz trumpeter's life in New York, and the soundtrack captures the sound of a working hard bop band with compositions that feel rooted in the tradition while reflecting the Marsalis circle's post-bop sensibility. Say Hey remains primarily associated with the Mo' Better Blues project rather than having entered the broader jazz repertoire as a widely covered standard, but its uptempo blues character and the quality of the performances give it lasting appeal as a blowing session highlight. On AllSolos, the recording features solos by Terence Blanchard on trumpet and Branford Marsalis on tenor saxophone.
