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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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Branford Marsalis
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: August 26
Actor
Composer
Jazz Musician
Saxophonist
New Orleans
Louisiana
Sound
Played
Song
Songs
Might
Walking
Everything
Couple
Play
Minutes
Long
Stupid
Think
Stage
Trails
Thinking
Maybe
Sounds

More quotes by Branford Marsalis

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My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.
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If it's not going to sound like Terrapin Station, what's the point of playing Terrapin Station?
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There's not one Tin Pan Alley song on my record.
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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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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.
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Everybody talks about finding your voice. Do your homework and your voice will find you.
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It's something that jazz has gotten away from, and it's unfortunate. Players aren't physical anymore.
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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.
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A lot of musicians have a tough time hearing what we're doing in a trio format.
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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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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.
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We all played bad before we played good.
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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?
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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.
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Jazz is so incestuous that it's starting to kill itself.
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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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You hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don't.
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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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That's kind of like how jazz is sometimes. You're out there predicting the future, and no one believes you.
Branford Marsalis