If it’s not going to sound like Terrapin Station, what’s the point of playing Terrapin Station?
BRANFORD MARSALISWhen people go to concerts, they say I’m going to see… not, I’m going to hear.
More Branford Marsalis Quotes
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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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Pop doesn’t really look back. It can’t. What makes pop work is simplicity.
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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 hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don’t.
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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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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.
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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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his special ability enables Walter to communicate with aspiring musicians in a way that removes the sense of mystery that sometimes enshrouds our profession.
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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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So much of Jazz doesn’t have an audience other than music students or musicians.
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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.
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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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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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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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