The Marsalis family and the jazz history of New Orleans are so closely intertwined that it is impossible to talk of one without the other. And so it was a bit surprising to find that Branford Marsalis, eldest of the jazz-playing sons of Crescent City pianist Ellis, now calls Durham, N.C., home. When asked during a telephone interview last week how often he visits his old stomping grounds in the Big Easy, the saxophonist said, "Not as much as I'd like to. I'll be back in April, and we'll spend two weeks there in August."

Not that Marsalis (who plays March 31 and April 1 at Anthology in San Diego in support of his new CD, "Metamorphosen") is the only New Orleans native living elsewhere -- not by a long shot.

"I was playing a concert in Dallas two weeks ago with the symphony, and a lot of my boys live there -- and they said 35,000 New Orleansians live there since Katrina."

While waiting for his flight home at the Dallas-Forth Worth airport, Marsalis said he met a young woman working at a food counter and could tell by her accent that she was from his hometown. Marsalis said she told him she had no intention of moving back home to Louisiana.

"The opportunities are better in Dallas. The rate of education is faster, her kids are learning faster," Marsalis said.

Still, he said, his native town is slowly recovering from the hurricane ("it was going to be a 10-year process"), and the folks who were displaced and have returned have a more worldly, less naive view of things -- they no longer view New Orleans' famed civic corruption as acceptable.

"Because New Orleans is such a special place, and people live in the same house for generations, it was hard to get people to leave to see that. And there was no way you were going to get the city to change when people were so complacent. Now, they're not complacent, and the city has to give them a reason to come back. Or it will have a depleted population."

But the city's music community is largely back in place, Marsalis said, and New Orleans' identity as the birthplace of jazz and one of America's music capitals is intact.

"A flood can't destroy the culture, and there are enough people back."

As for his own muse, Marsalis said that after 25 years of leading his own groups and recording (the new album is his 20th as leader), there's still no rhyme or reason to the process of making an album.

"We just make a record when it's time to make them," he said. "This one sneaked up on me. I was on vacation with my family, and my manager called and said it's time to do a record. I said, 'When?' and she said, 'Now.' "

As to how his manager knew it was time to cut a new album, Marsalis said a new distribution contract for his Marsalis Music record label was probably behind the timing.

"We'd just done this deal with Universal, where they were going to distribute us, which was a positive step for us. I think they kind of requested, 'When is the new Branford record coming out?' "

It was after leaving Columbia in 2002 that Marsalis started his own label. In addition to his albums ("Metamorphosen" is his third on the label), Marsalis Music has also issued instrumental piano recordings by fellow New Orleans native Harry Connick Jr. and fellow saxophonist Miguel Zenon.

"I could have thought of better things to do with my money, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time," he said of his decision to found his own label.

"We let the musicians make their record without comments from record company executives about what songs to play or who to hire."

Branford Marsalis

When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. March 31 and April 1

Where: Anthology, 1337 India St., San Diego

Admission: $29-$35

Info: (619) 595-0300 or anthologysd.com

Web: branfordmarsalis.com