Quote

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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Branford Marsalis
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: August 26
Actor
Composer
Jazz Musician
Saxophonist
New Orleans
Louisiana
Language
Players
Long
Worked
Benny
Way
Player
Lick
Time
Told
Rip
Like
Takes
Sounding
Start
Gradually
Sound
Cats
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More quotes by 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.
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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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Jazz is so incestuous that it's starting to kill itself.
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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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So much of Jazz doesn't have an audience other than music students or musicians.
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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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That's kind of like how jazz is sometimes. You're out there predicting the future, and no one believes you.
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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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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.
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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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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.
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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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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.
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We all played bad before we played good.
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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My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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