The biggest problem with American music right now, is that kids don’t listen. They come by it honestly, Americans don’t listen anyway.
BRANFORD MARSALISOne 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.
More Branford Marsalis Quotes
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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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My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.
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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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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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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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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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You know, being America, being the land of “number ones”, everyone wants to be a leader before they follow.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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When people go to concerts, they say I’m going to see… not, I’m going to hear.
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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.
BRANFORD MARSALIS