Branford Marsalis (b. August 26th, 1960)
MY FAVORITE THINGS Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis has not only endured tragedy, he's triumphed over it. With the death of pianist Kenny Kirkland, a Marsalis band mainstay, in 1998, saxophonist Marsalis was forced to redefine his popular quartet. He did so by bringing on pianist Joey Calderazzo -- an inspired choice. The new Contemporary Jazz finds the band in top shape and looking toward the future with promise. His ears always open to a world of sound, Marsalis spoke with Barnes & Noble.com's Ted Panken about his personal hit parade.
Barnes & Noble.com: Tell me some records that were paradigm shifts for you, that changed your world when you heard them?
Branford Marsalis: Charlie Parker With Strings. I was 16 years old, and I had become a relatively facile saxophone player, playing the pop music of the time, feeling really good about myself. Hearing the sound that emanated from his horn and the dexterity that he exhibited as a saxophone player really made me aware of my own limitations at that time, and also aware that if I was ever going to play the saxophone up to the level it could be played, I was going to have to listen to music other than the shit I'd been listening to at that time.
Barnes & Noble.com: TP: What else?
BM: Nefertiti by Miles Davis. Until I heard that record, my only access to jazz really was my father's record collection, because I was listening more to popular music and the jazz-fusion music of the time -- Weather Report, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever, all those cats. So I was really turned off to jazz, in a way, because I really wasn't enamored with the harmonic limitations of the music that I had heard.Then when I heard this Miles Davis Nefertiti record with Wayne Shorter playing tenor, the first revelation was, I'd always thought that Wayne Shorter was just a tenor-soprano player in a group called Weather Report. I didn't even know he had played with Miles. The second thing was that the nature of the compositions steered me to a whole new avenue and ways to approach the music. It really enhanced my enthusiasm about the possibilities of playing jazz and what I could do.
Barnes & Noble.com: What pop records were you listening to?
BM: The Earth, Wind and Fire record called Open Our Eyes. It was the first or second album I bought. Before them, I was pretty much programmed, like everybody else, into buying singles. There was a song on there called "Mighty Mighty" that was played a lot on the radio, and I decided to make a big investment and plunk down four dollars for an album and was completely blown away by the number of choice cuts that they had on the album. It was once again one of those kind of two-tiered things. It made me realize the stuff that's on the radio is not necessarily the best stuff on an album. It also turned me off to those entertainers whose basic philosophy was to find one or two songs that could get played on the radio and treat the rest of the album as filler. So it opened up another door and it closed a door for me.
Barnes & Noble.com: What contemporary pop has grabbed you lately?
BM: I'm still listening to that M'Shell NdegeOcello record, Bitter.That shit is the bomb. It's deep, man. She's a superior instrumentalist. And in an era when everybody is trying to find a way to pare down their music, whether it's from pressure from the record company to sell records or their own insecurities require they sell records, she puts out this record that deals first of all with pain and alienation which I guess she's feeling in her life right now. The songs are about breaking up with somebody and abandonment and the whole shit. It's a very melancholy record. I applaud anybody in today's society who has the balls to represent any emotion other than happiness or juvenile angst, but a real heartfelt pain. They have a fan for life in me.
Barnes & Noble.com: Do you listen to world music?
BM: Afro-Peruvian Classics on Luaka Bop. It's a record that David Byrne put together. It's killin'. There's a whole Afro-Peruvian community that nobody really knows about. He went down there and recorded all the songs that they sing. It's just some bad shit.
Barnes & Noble.com: Any contemporary jazz records you're listening to these days?
BM: Most of the shit is so boring, dude.
Barnes & Noble.com: Oh yeah?
BM: Yeah, it really is. For me, what do I get out of it by listening to it. I like Joey Calderazzo's record (Joey Calderazzo), but then I produced it. I like Tain's record (Citizen Tain), but I'm involved with that, and I love David Sanchez's record (Melaza).
Barnes & Noble.com: So you like the records that you produce.
BM: Yeah, I like all of them actually! Frank McComb's record (Love Stories) is also great. They're very consistent, because I think they're all real good and no one buys them. [laughs] Also, my brother Jason's newest record Music In Motion. Both of them, actually. The first one is called The Art of The Drummer, and it's okay, but the second one is so much better.
Barnes & Noble.com: What about classic jazz players? Who do you keep returning to?
BM: {|Sonny Rollins|}, just for sheer improvising. Just for sheer idea after idea after idea, with very few phrases being repeated over the course of a record or over the course of time. He's just the master. I guess one of my favorite Rollins's albums is Our Man In Jazz, on RCA. It was him and Don Cherry, Billy Higgins and Bob Cranshaw.
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