Branford Marsalis Quotes

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.
Branford Marsalis

Life, Perfect, Trouble

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.
Branford Marsalis

Love, Hard, Understand

A lot of musicians have a tough time hearing what we're doing in a trio format.
Branford Marsalis

Time, Tough, Musicians

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.
Branford Marsalis

Problem, Few, Talking

I gave up my base in popular culture when I left the Tonight Show.
Branford Marsalis

Show, Culture, Left

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?
Branford Marsalis

Good, Cannot, Themselves

I suspect that we might actually start selling some records with these artists in about 10 years. Some the people who invested, they're a little tight-because it's a lot of money to start up a company.
Branford Marsalis

Money, Start, Might

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

Care, Keep, Door

I think that one of the problems that jazz has is that it's so incestuous that it's starting to kill itself.
Branford Marsalis

Problems, Jazz, Starting

I'm not going to play funk licks on a jazz album. That makes no sense.
Branford Marsalis

Play, Sense, Makes

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

Fun, Since, Okay

If it's not going to sound like Terrapin Station, what's the point of playing Terrapin Station?
Branford Marsalis

Point, Playing, Sound

If you're going to use standards as criteria for signing musicians, you can sign thousands. If you're going to use some sort of conceptual interpretation that's based on the tradition of those standards, but is trying to move away from it, you're down to about 10 people or so.
Branford Marsalis

Down, Trying, Away

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.
Branford Marsalis

Focus, Hard, Interest

It's something that jazz has gotten away from, and it's unfortunate. Players aren't physical anymore.
Branford Marsalis

Away, Players, Physical

Jazz fans love Miles and I love him for a myriad of reasons, but the overviews are always too simplistic.
Branford Marsalis

Love, Him, Fans

My dad was a musician, it was just what he did, like another guy's dad drives a meat truck. Our house was normal. We weren't taken with the fact our dad was a musician.
Branford Marsalis

Dad, Another, Fact

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

Great, Him, Else

One of the things that's clear to me from interviews that I've read is that the more popular successful jazz musicians had audiences above and beyond the music community.
Branford Marsalis

Music, Successful, Read

Pop doesn't really look back. It can't. What makes pop work is simplicity.
Branford Marsalis

Work, Makes, Simplicity

That's kind of like how jazz is sometimes. You're out there predicting the future, and no one believes you.
Branford Marsalis

Future, Sometimes, Jazz

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.
Branford Marsalis

Music, Problem, American

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.
Branford Marsalis

Successful, Lives, Musicians

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

Music, Time, Tough

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

Saying, Give, Play

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Biography

Nationality: American

Born: August 26, 1960

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