Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalisis an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSaxophonist
Date of Birth26 August 1960
CityBreaux Bridge, LA
CountryUnited States of America
voice homework findings
Everybody talks about finding your voice. Do your homework and your voice will find you.
We all played bad before we played good.
new-orleans talking new-day
Coltrane came to New Orleans one day and he was talking about the jazz scene. And Coltrane mentions that the problem with jazz was that there were too few groups.
moving people trying
If youre going to use standards as criteria for signing musicians, you can sign thousands. If youre going to use some sort of conceptual interpretation thats based on the tradition of those standards, but is trying to move away from it, youre down to about 10 people or so.
music song jobs
My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.
rip cat player
The way to learn the language is to rip off other players. As Benny Golson told me, "We all start off sounding like other cats. And gradually, a lick here or there,we start to sound like ourselves. But it takes a long time to do so..." That'swhat he told me, and it worked for me.
kids america people
The biggest problem with American music right now, is that kids don't listen. They come by it honestly, Americans don't listen anyway. When people go to concerts, they say I'm going to see... not, I'm going to hear.
mean titles identification
When you're dealing with music without words, titles are more a means of identification than anything else. What's the point of getting lofty?
listening band musician
One of the things that I loved about listening to Miles Davis is that Miles always had an instinct for which musicians were great for what situations. He could always pick a band, and that was the thing that separated him from everybody else.
piano people tough-times
The piano is the X factor. People have a tough time following the structures when there's no piano there, spelling it out. It makes it more easily understood, particularly to people who don't know as much about music.
song brain sometimes
You hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don't.
player jazz unfortunate
It's something that jazz has gotten away from, and it's unfortunate. Players aren't physical anymore.
successful people listening
The lion's share of what I hear right now are people who, intentional or accidental, have avoided all jazz prior to 1960. And all the musicians who were successful in the '60s spent their entire lives, prior to 1960, listening to all the musicians these people avoid.
artist records sound
I like to make records sound good. I'm more like a reducer than a producer. If an artist cannot produce themselves, what's the point?