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 MARSALISI 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.
More Branford Marsalis Quotes
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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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Pop doesn’t really look back. It can’t. What makes pop work is simplicity.
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Everybody talks about finding your voice. Do your homework and your voice will find you.
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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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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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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.
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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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I’m not going to play funk licks on a jazz album. That makes no sense.
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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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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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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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My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.
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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 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