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 MARSALISYou don’t know what you like, you like what you know. In order to know what you like, you have to know everything.
More Branford Marsalis Quotes
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When people go to concerts, they say I’m going to see… not, I’m going to hear.
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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’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.
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You know, being America, being the land of “number ones”, everyone wants to be a leader before they follow.
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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.
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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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Pop doesn’t really look back. It can’t. What makes pop work is simplicity.
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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?
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I’m not going to play funk licks on a jazz album. That makes no sense.
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Everybody talks about finding your voice. Do your homework and your voice will find you.
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You don’t know what you like, you like what you know. In order to know what you like, you have to know everything.
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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.
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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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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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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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