Branford Marsalis's albums
Black Codes (From the Underground)
Tenor Saxophone / Soprano Saxophone / Saxophone
Branford Marsalis
(1960–)
United States·Berklee College of Music
Branford Marsalis (b. 1960) — Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone. Led Renaissance, Random Abstract, Trio Jeepy. Worked with Jeff "Tain" Watts, Kenny Kirkland, Wynton Marsalis.
Branford arrived on the jazz scene alongside his brother Wynton and has never stopped exploring. He plays both tenor and soprano with intelligence and structural clarity. His reach extends far beyond jazz — the Sting band, late-night TV bandleader — yet every note carries the rigor of a serious improviser.
The soprano sax on 'Englishman in New York' (1987) was played by Branford Marsalis
— Branford Marsalis on touring with Sting — JazzTimes
sourcedBranford Marsalis's videos
Full concert of the post-Kirkland Branford Marsalis
— Branford Marsalis Quartet - North Sea Jazz, Prime Video / Stingray Qello, 1999
Branford Marsalis's videos
Full North Sea Jazz Festival concert of the golden-era Branford Marsalis
— Branford Marsalis Quartet - North Sea Jazz Festival 1987, NN North Sea Jazz Festival archive, 1987
Branford Marsalis's videos
Branford Marsalis
— Branford Marsalis Quartet - 'Yes Or No' Live at the Bottom Line 1989, 1989
In 1994, Branford Marsalis
The quartet of Branford Marsalis
On his sole self-titled leader album from 1991, Kenny Kirkland
In 1999, Jeff "Tain" Watts
Charnett Moffett
After Kenny Kirkland
Branford Marsalis's albums
In 1982, when Wynton asked his brother Branford who he knew for a new band, the answer was: call Kenny Kirkland, and put Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums. Watts was an unknown Berklee student at the time; that single recommendation set the entire rhythm section of Wynton's 1980s quartet and put both men on the map.
— Statement stmt-branford-marsalis-on-kenny-kirkland
Branford Marsalis's albums
When Kenny Kirkland died suddenly in 1998, a reporter told Branford Marsalis he was 'reconsidering Wynton's band.' Branford cut him off: the pianist had been a name in the small print while alive — and only in death was he worth a second look?
— Statement stmt-branford-marsalis-on-kenny-kirkland-3
Branford Marsalis's albums
The saxophonist on Art Blakey's 1981 album Album of the Year was an unnamed twenty-year-old: Branford Marsalis. The Marsalis family's later fame didn't exist yet — his career started inside Blakey's band, not the other way around.
Branford Marsalis's albums
Wynton Marsalis's 1985 album Black Codes (From the Underground) is known for its tight ensemble unison, but Branford Marsalis later recalled that only Wynton actually rehearsed — the band itself barely ran through the material together.
— Statement stmt-branford-marsalis-on-wynton-marsalis
Branford Marsalis's albums
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers is remembered as a finishing school for young players, but Branford Marsalis recalls Blakey as the man who first showed him how weak his ballad playing was. Before he became one of the genre's leading saxophonists, he was simply a rookie who couldn't yet handle a ballad.
— Statement stmt-branford-marsalis-on-art-blakey
Art BlakeyBranford Marsalis said
Call Kenny Kirkland, man. Jeff Tain Watts should be the drummer.
Recalling what he told his brother Wynton in 1982, when Wynton was forming his first band and asked whom he knew.
↗ Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program
Branford Marsalis NEA Jazz Master Interview
2012-05-25
Branford Marsalis said
See Kenny and Tain, you couldn't get them to rehearse. If you called a rehearsal, they wouldn't even show up.
On making the Kenny Kirkland memorial album Requiem, describing how neither man would ever turn up to rehearse.
↗ Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program
Branford Marsalis NEA Jazz Master Interview
2012-05-25
Branford Marsalis said
So, now Kenny's dead y'all wanna rethink the band. You guys are idiots, man.
His reply to a jazz writer who, at the Requiem session just after Kirkland's death, said critics were starting to rethink the Wynton Marsalis band.
↗ Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program
Branford Marsalis NEA Jazz Master Interview
2012-05-25
Branford Marsalis said
I mean we didn't practice. Wynton was the only guy that really practiced.
Listening back to the Wynton Marsalis quintet's Black Codes (From the Underground) and judging how unprepared the band had been.
↗ Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program
Branford Marsalis NEA Jazz Master Interview
2012-05-25
Branford Marsalis said
He was the first guy to make me understand how bad I was on ballads.
On what Art Blakey taught him during his time in the Jazz Messengers.
↗ Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program
Branford Marsalis NEA Jazz Master Interview
2012-05-25