Branford Marsalis

You don’t know what you like, you like what you know. In order to know what you like, you have to know everything.

My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.

We all played bad before we played good.

Pop doesn’t really look back. It can’t. What makes pop work is simplicity.

We quest for the perfect performance and every note has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.

Jazz fans love Miles and I love him for a myriad of reasons, but the overviews are always too simplistic.

Stevie didn’t use the technology to drive the song. He used it to enhance. I use the tools to further my work, I don’t use my work to further the tools.

Keep searching for that sound you hear in your head until it becomes a reality.

Those who wish to sing, always find a song.

Music and life are all about style.

No one remembers who wrote the tune, putting pen to paper in some lonely place. They remember who had the hit.

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music.

A great teacher stimulates his student’s creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves.

If you don’t know what it is, don’t mess with it.

Music can’t save the world, but can make one a little calmer.

I’m using the insides of sounds to move around in a very subtle way which, I think, ends up being inevitable. I feel its the only solution to that particular problem that I presented myself.

A musician starting out today should get a great teacher and learn all there is to know about the instrument.

Jazz is one of the least learnable art forms.

My dream is to do whatever I want without any interference from the record company.

A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside… I’m going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.

I remember going to sleep many nights with a Gibson catalog, dreaming about getting a Les Paul. I finally did, with a loan from my Dad. It’s a really heavy instrument. But it plays like butter. I met Les backstage at a show once. Jeff Beck made me play ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ for Les, which was a little embarrassing. He changed history, big-time.