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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.

Branford Marsalis

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Branford Marsalis
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: August 26
Actor
Composer
Jazz Musician
Saxophonist
New Orleans
Louisiana
Spirit
Dialect
America
French
Like
Jazz
Musical
Asking
Almost
Actually
Language
Embodies

More quotes by Branford Marsalis

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I don't care who likes it or buys it. Because if you use that criterion, Mozart would have never written Don Giovanni, Charlie Parker never would have played anything but swing music. There comes a point at which you have to stand up and say, this is what I have to do.
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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.
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I gave up my base in popular culture when I left the Tonight Show.
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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?
Branford Marsalis
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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.
Branford Marsalis
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We all played bad before we played good.
Branford Marsalis
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Jazz is so incestuous that it's starting to kill itself.
Branford Marsalis
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If I were like a lot of other people, then it wouldn't be fun but since I'm like me, it's okay.
Branford Marsalis
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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.
Branford Marsalis
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So much of Jazz doesn't have an audience other than music students or musicians.
Branford Marsalis
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We played it as long as we could play it on that CD and I think it might be 50 minutes, maybe. What you have to do is play a couple of songs and then get off the stage because everything that trails it sounds stupid.
Branford Marsalis
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You hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don't.
Branford Marsalis
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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.
Branford Marsalis
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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.
Branford Marsalis
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A lot of musicians have a tough time hearing what we're doing in a trio format.
Branford Marsalis
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There's not one Tin Pan Alley song on my record.
Branford Marsalis
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I think that if you keep banging at the door all you need is a little foothold, a little tiny foothold, and then the rest will take care of itself.
Branford Marsalis
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It's something that jazz has gotten away from, and it's unfortunate. Players aren't physical anymore.
Branford Marsalis
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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.
Branford Marsalis
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Everybody talks about finding your voice. Do your homework and your voice will find you.
Branford Marsalis