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
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.
voice homework findings
Everybody talks about finding your voice. Do your homework and your voice will find you.
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.
song brain sometimes
You hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don't.
america musical asking
What is jazz? It, It's almost like asking, What is French? Jazz is a musical language. It's a musical dialect that actually embodies the spirit of America.
music order like-you
You don't know what you like, you like what you know. In order to know what you like, you have to know everything.
men perfect quests
Humans are imperfect. That's one of the reasons that classical and jazz are in trouble. We're on the quest for the perfect performance and every note has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.
music simplicity looks
Pop doesn't really look back. It can't. What makes pop work is simplicity.
believe jazz kind
That's kind of like how jazz is sometimes. You're out there predicting the future, and no one believes you.
average play giving
The whole point is, give me a break with the standards. You go to the average jazz label and suggest a record and they want to know which standards you're going to play. I'm saying let's break the formula.
song people littles
If you listen to a lot of the songs that are popular now, there's very little melody in there. People love the beat. But to musicians, it's melody, because we understand how elusive it is and how hard it is to hold.
focus intellectual culture
It's hard to get into Newsweek because, as more of our former intellectual magazines take on a pop focus, if there's no buzz, there's no interest.
art unique desire
We have something that is unique. We have our craft. We have our art. We have our desire.