Elbphilharmonie Talk with Branford Marsalis

Saxophonist and composer Branford Marsalis has been a fixture on the jazz scene for decades. He is the eldest son of the  Marsalis dynasty from New Orleans, along with his brothers Wynton (trumpet), Delfeayo (trombone) and Jason (percussion). Marsalis is not a jazz purist. He has worked with pop stars like Sting and Tina Turner, he loves European classical music, and always emphasises that »if you confine yourself to virtuoso playing, you miss the heart of the music«. He believes that the power of music is in the melodies that the audience takes away with it at the end of a concert. In his Elbphilharmonie Talk, Branford Marsalis also talks about egosim in jazz, about Hungarian music and different listening habits. And he explains what is important to him when he is playing.

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Tom R. Schulz's first comment to the sax player is that 10 in the morning is pretty early for an interview. But Branford Marsalis says that 9 o'clock would have been fine for him as well: »If I go to bed early after the concert, I often get up again at 4 or 5 in the morning«.

Marsalis has just come from Budapest, where he and his band were playing together with Hungarian musicians. He was originally going to write new chords for the melodies of Hungarian folk songs, as is traditionally done in jazz. But when he listened to the music, he soon noticed that the chords were perfect as they were, creating just the right emotional impact with the audience.

Thus Marsalis decided to just add some jazz elements played by his band to the Hungarian music. These jazz elements sounded odd to the audience at first, but then they were resolved into the familiar, traditional melodies. »For the most part I took a back seat as a soloist, which prompted praise for my modesty. I was pleased of course, but I don't think it would have fit to add much more. That would have been precisely the kind of egoism that modern jazz tends to favour, which doesn't help the music. The Hungarians simply played their music better than I can – they know it better.«

Marsalis goes on that he heard some Rumanian folk music a while ago, and was fascinated by how natural it sounded.  He attributes this to fact that music is ubiquitous in Rumania, with people often spontaneously striking up a tune. He says that he took a leaf out of their book: »You often only understand music when you listen to it so many times that it suddenly finds its way to you quite naturally.«

Stravinsky asserted on several occasions that you need to listen to music »with different ears« in order to understand it. »The more I think about his comment, the better I understand it. We all grow up with certain conventions regarding how see see music and how we listen to it. Four-four time, for example, was the basis when I learned music. We will probably never manage to really forsake this convention, but we can enrich it by adding different music and rhythms that may be unfamiliar to us, and thus expand our own understanding.«
 

It's not virtuosity or complexity alone that interest Marsalis. Rather, he wants to arouse a particular emotion or create a certain colour with his music. «That's why Stravinsky is so important to me. No matter how complicated his music is, there is always a melody, a part that you can sing along to. You don't often get that in contemporary music, and that can be frustrating for the audience.«

How does it feel to be back on tour after such a long break due to the coronavirus? Branford Marsalis says he missed travelling less than playing music. »More than anything else, I missed the members of my quartet. We met now and again using video conferencing. But the corona time was also the longest time I've ever spent with my children at one go. That was great. They got to know new sides to me – suddenly I wasn't just their dad who had to give a concert in the evening or who was going off on tour. Another thing I used the time for was to work through a list of the trickiest pieces that I had always wanted to get around to playing.« He also had a lot time to think – about himself and about who he wanted to be. »Overall, the corona time still produced a lot of benefits for me.« Marsalis adds that this was a difficult time for musicians, but just as much for other people in other professions. He sees himself first and foremost as a man, and then as a musician.

Marsalis thinks that rehearsals are overrated. »I always strive for the sound of freedom in my music, not of control.« Obviously you have to get attuned to one another if the band is new. But he avoids repetition in rehearsals in order to be as free as possible in the concert.

»Anything is possible – that's the feeling I like to go on stage with. The songs need to be able to breathe, to vary from one evening to the next. That's why we don't have a setlist. We choose what pieces to play during the gig.« Marsalis decides on the spur of the moment which pieces fit the mood in the audience, the room and its acoustics.

Branford Marsalis follows this principle even at solo recitals. He is self-critical, but perfection doesn't interest him. At solo appearances, too, he focuses on spontaneous interaction – with his own emotions, with the room and the audience.

At the end of the interview, Schulz mentions Branford's carer breakthrough with Sting. Are they still in touch with each other? »We never lost contact,« Marsalis says. He worked with Sting again only recently. Even Branford's children, who always teased him a bit about Sting, have met the British musician in the meantime, and thought he was »really cool«. Marsalis laughs at the answer he gave: »He was always cool«.

Interview: Tom R. Schulz.
Text: Anastasia Päßler
English translation: Clive Williams