Branford Marsalis | The Sound and me

[@ed.z.]

Branford Marsalis is one of the most important jazz musicians in the world. He is literally a national treasure.

[@benhostetler268]

Branford dropped a gold mine of information in a very short time.

[@mattycakesmuhammmad]

Branford has the best interviews, hands down, as far as musicians go

[@jaxonellis2995]

Right?!? Could listen to Branford all day. Wynton as well. Both have incredible histories.

[@JosephSalinas-r4r]

​@@jaxonellis2995true, true 😮😊

[@danielstainier793]

Thank you very much

[@kuumbafranklacy490]

Deep, because when I was with Art Blakey 1988-90, we did his 75th anniversary tour.....a long tour .......Bu ( Art Blakey) had 2 bands, his current band, and his Legacy Band ( cats that played with him) and the horn section was Jackie McClean, Curtis Fuller, and Benny Golson, and man, Benny was KILLING ! I went to Bu and said : " Bu, he sounds like Trane" !......Bu said : "Oh no, son......Trade sounds like HIM !"

[@Eastpointe]

Branford is brilliance!

[@davidmaslow399]

Branford says such interesting things!

[@BlackRootsAcademyOfSoul]

Fantastic interview. Always a treat listening to B. Marsalis, and his brother too. Fountains of Jazz knowledge. Greetings from Uganda 🇺🇬👊🏿🖤

[@dennis9242]

Excellent.

[@guillermosahuquillo4499]

Thank you Sting for introducing me to the fascinating universe of this man’s music. My First gig ever was the Blue Turtle’s tour in ‘85... made me want to listen to jazz music, and made me an outcast (lol) with my friends (I was 15, and all the music that was fashionable at that time became meaningless to me from that evening on... could not see the point in listening to madonna, jacko, dire straits or U2... even Sting became eventually flat to my ears and I loudly manifested my aversion to it). It made me concentrate more in what I was listening and rejecting top 40 radio pop/rock... now i only listen to classical and jazz in all its genres and hunt for gems in stores and www. The rest just plainly doesnt move me.

[@JosephSalinas-r4r]

What? You don't like 'Lil Wayne???😮😮😊😅

[@markauckland666]

Eloquent and informed, fabulous man

[@HB-ve4wi]

No-one has more interesting things to say about Jazz than Branford Marsalis. On the instrument and off.

[@rmoraespinto]

Branford mentions Warne Marsh. I am quite happy with that, as Warne is an original, from top to bottom, whose playing I love so much. AMoF Branford and Warne are the one saxophonists whose sound and ideas I enjoy the most.

[@QuadriviumNumbers]

Warne was a great player but definitely not an original! You liking someone's playing doesn't make that player an "original from top to bottom"... whatever that means. He was hugely influenced by the bebop movement, mainly Charlie Parker and the great Lester Young who was the main influence of Stan Getz. He was also greatly influenced by Lennie Tristano.

[@St-Dawe]

Branford, what a great guy, he´s the man.

[@zangsax]

I love this mans music. His passion forthe music comes out in so many ways . Sometimes intense andsometimes so subtly nuanced always fully present inthe music..

[@johnasti7429]

Great interview...... Great explanation about room size, higher celing, and allow the sound wave to meet its full peak...

[@raepaul8158]

Great piece , thanks for sharing !

[@edovonvelde3194]

Great video , lots of info, thanks👍

[@AnonymousBN]

Fantastic interview.

[@kwootamuckbear9294]

You really dissed them in the “Woods”! They didn’t see that coming🎶🎵🎷

[@esfahan1961]

Almost the debate about the Mark VI greatness. When they were produced the Reference 36 or 54 didn’t exist. When young John Coltrane shaped his so unmistakable sound, he had to listen to older great players. Then he became the then Mark VI standard of sax players. Great video, thanks.

[@lorecpiano]

while listening to the interview I got cuaght on the background recording of Brandfords band and at 10:30 minute I hear branford impersonating Wayne Shorter !As he talked about imitating Other musicians, and then come out on your playing !

[@guillermosahuquillo4499]

As David Byrne says, the venue makes the music

[@da11king]

hmmmm no wonder he likes to records in big rooms. I like listenig to Brandford, he s such a straigth shooter

[@oooooo-cs6nj]

Hello bro Master music powuer feling bendiciones 🙏

[@chowchichang2922]

Intriguing interview . Just wish we had the time and resources to delve into this fascinating topic . The beauty about Branford and his group is their sound . I think one develops their sound whilst trying to play / mimic as much of the great voluminous material that has come before .

[@darrylreeves]

Yes, Branford is absolutely correct about recording in large rooms. I was touting convolution reverb until Arne Wallander pointed out to me that it was a gimmick. Large rooms produce what he calls the bloom effect, where reverb tails brighten towards the end of the reverb trail. The sound of pizzicato in a real hall vs. a dry sample through convolution reverb sounds totally different. And mic bleed is absolutely important to the sound. It's a very unique sound that has been lost in modern times. But idiosyncratic recording has become a thing now so we might see a resurgence of it in the future.

[@JazzFan76]

I remember back in '97 when I was trying to play trumpet like Louis Armstrong and my friend Carl Winrow told me to not play like Louis Armstrong because the world already had a Louis Armstrong. He said to play like myself. Develop my own sound. He said I can add some Louis Armstrong influence in my sound but not to play exactly like him. So from that time on, I played the way I wanted to without trying to blatantly copy Louis Armstrong.

[@oughtssought1198]

but being able to play just like Louis Armstrong is a mighty fine starting point from which to go your own way

[@jasondavisjazz]

Thanks

[@santih5043]

This was a fascinating interview with only one problem: Branford's music playing in the background was just as fascinating so it was a little difficult to focus.

[@JerryAttric42]

Marsalis has an interesting mind. he once in rebuttal to what Cecil Tayor said about his fans, that his listeners should do their homework. Bradford countered with: "i'm a baseball fam. when i got out to Shea Stadium, i don't feel it's necessary for me to field ground balls with the infielders before the game."

[@spacegupta71]

First backround song is by Keith Jarrett. Tenor on it is Jan Garberek.

[@JentschChris]

Hmm...it's probably the version that Branford recorded as background music here...

[@DanForshaw]

@@JentschChris It's Branford's version

[@romeleone9429]

So true I hate small rooms for recording. The sound of my trumpet bounces off the walls and dies suddenly, small rooms ruin Legato playing as well as dynamics . All acoustic instruments need their proper space to breathe. Acoustic instrument social distance for a safe and effective musical conversation. Thanks BM and Selmer P for sharing

[@corkymiller]

It’s interesting that the soundtrack here is either Jan Garbarek with Keith Jarrett or someone sounding like Garbarek(Marsalis?) while talking about sounding like someone else.

[@troldhaugen]

Finally, a great jazz musician admitting that he wonders why people like Coltrane's tone so much. Just because Coltrane was a great and pioneering musician doesn't mean that every aspect of his playing was perfect. This is true of all musicians, artists, and other great thinkers.

[@jamespartaik8816]

hmmm... it's not a question of perfection, it's personal taste and style. Coltrane strived for that sound. He obviously liked it, Miles liked it, and other don't.

[@troldhaugen]

@@jamespartaik8816 I was lumping his tone and his intonation problems together. The former was intentional, but I doubt the latter was. On tunes like Naima and In A Sentimental Mood, it's hard to listen to, even though the performances are great in other respects. It grates against me because I had the same problem in my playing, and for the same reason: clamping with my jaw instead of proper embouchre. I read it was because he had dental problems from eating sweets.

[@jamespartaik8816]

@@troldhaugen Like I said, personal taste, I love the Naima versions and In a sentimental mood. I also love Archie Sheep and his wild intonation, and Harry Partch's microtonal music. Not all music is for everyone.

[@troldhaugen]

@@jamespartaik8816btw, I'm a huge fan of Coltrane's playing overall. I love In A Sentimental Mood and Naima, which he composed. I love his phrasing on those tunes. There has never been music more exciting than A Love Supreme. I just don't like the unintentional sharp notes that stick out on some ballads. I don't think Coltrane liked them either. I think that's why we hear him struggling to correct them.

[@scotttinkler]

@@jamespartaik8816 I'm with you 100%, subjective points for sure.

[@evelioroque3706]

I love both musicians but... WHY IS KEITH JARRETT IN THE BACKGROUND OF BRANFORD TALKING ABOUT COLTRANE? Related because... they all play jazz?

[@robertballard8833]

Great interview. As a 40 year saxophonist, Its hard for me to listen to Coltrane on many cuts. Often his sound seems thin and harsh to me. I definitely see Hodges influence, but in Tranes case, he often seems out of tune ( Especially on Soprano). He sure knew where to put his fingers, though. As far as my tone, I go all over the place - Rudy Weidoeft to Louis Jordan, Sammy Butera - Clifford Scott to Stan Getz ( who has MANY tones) and Yoursel, of course,Yourself. My advice - listen to everybody YOU like, and make your own sound. Mouthpiece does influence tone a lot. I use everything from stock plastic Ebolin on alto to to metal #7 Barone on Tenor.

[@QuadriviumNumbers]

Branford appeals to people like you who are complimentary about Getz and dismissive of John Coltrane. 🤣Trane's nasal tone on soprano is due mainly to mic placement, his playing was NEVER "out of tune!"

[@nononouh]

How did the mouthpiece change someone's sound the first week?

[@JimCherwinski]

Why, when you have such an experienced and articulate musician revealing his secrets, do you have to put some of his more dischordant music so loud in the mix?!?!?!? Let the man speak!

[@marcususa]

12:43 A big reason why I left Berklee.

[@ContraMundumPress]

Branford is interesting enough that it isn't necessary to have music underneath every single thing he says as a background track. It comes across as an irritating nervous tic in terms of 'film composition.' In a way, it is a denigration of the music, and a denigration of his thought.

[@rinahall]

just listened to a 10h European podcast radio show on Sonny Rollins (yes, 10x 1h, covering 1951-2001 !!!). My opinion of Rollins is that it seems very overrated to me. First of all as a player, he does not seem to me better than Johnny Griffin, Stitt, Roland Kirk, Phil Woods, Lateef ... but enjoys a much more important reputation ... and unjustified in my opinion. Ok he plays well, but not better than the musicians I mentioned. In terms of composition, he did not compose anything, everyone knows that St Thomas is a Caribbean folklore already recorded by Randy Weston in 1955 under the title Fire Down There. His other compositions from the 50s ... well, Oleo, Airegin etc ... this can in no way be compared to the compositions of Trane, Bird, Monk or Shorter ... also, his playing and his sound are terribly degraded after 1966 (36 years). It seems that he was traumatized by the arrival of Ornette, Trane, Ayler ... In the 60's he tried to be more free than Ayler, more calypso / blues than Ornette, and more mystical than Trane, but he didn't. did not succeed. Then in the 70s / 80s he tried to be funky, disco ... with really ridiculous and cheesy results ... Did he want to be funkier than James Brown himself? Also, in the radio show they say that he was paid current $ 300,000 for himself to record the Nucleus album (so listen to the result !!!!), and that, for his concerts, his financial claims were unrealistic, only the big festivals could afford it. He played with the Stones but didn't want to go on tour with them because, according to Jagger himself, he wanted too much money! I mean, I'm not making anything up here. In my opinion, he should have remained what he was before, a disciple of Bird at the Tenor, and quit at the age of 40 to leave a quality job, and without trying to follow fashion. Thank you for not insulting me because I have documented myself on Rollins and I like to have constructive discussions without being attacked on my person.

[@QuadriviumNumbers]

Blah blah blah....🥱.