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.
BRANFORD MARSALISWhen you’re dealing with music without words, titles are more a means of identification than anything else. What’s the point of getting lofty?
More Branford Marsalis Quotes
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Pop doesn’t really look back. It can’t. What makes pop work is simplicity.
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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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When people go to concerts, they say I’m going to see… not, I’m going to hear.
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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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Everybody talks about finding your voice. Do your homework and your voice will find you.
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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.
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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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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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My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.
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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 don’t care who likes it or buys it. Because if you use that criterion, Mozart would have never written Don Giovanni, Charlie Parker never would have played anything but swing music. There comes a point at which you have to stand up and say, this is what I have to do.
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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.
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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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Walter Beasley is an anomaly: a successful performing musician who possesses the rare skill of understanding the musical process beyond the intuitive. T
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