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CURATIONS & PROVENANCE

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ARTIST/CREATIVE/EDUCATOR

Name: Branford Marsalis
City/Place: Durham, North Carolina
Country: United States
Hometown: New Orleans

Life & Work

Bio: JAZZ

From his initial recognition as a young jazz lion, he has expanded his vision as an instrumentalist, composer, bandleader and educator, crossing stylistic boundaries while maintaining an unwavering creative integrity. In the process, he has become an avatar of contemporary artistic excellence.

The Branford Marsalis Quartet, first formed in 1986, remains Branford’s primary means of expression. In its virtually uninterrupted three-plus decades of existence, the Quartet has established a rare breadth of stylistic range and a continuity of personnel. The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, recorded in Melbourne, Australia in the midst of an international tour in the Spring of 2018, contains the mix of challenging original and classic compositions, and the range of moods from the tender to the explosive, that has defined the group. With its focus on melodic strength and extrasensory interaction, the album confirms that the Branford Marsalis Quartet remains a paragon of uncompromising jazz excellence.

While the Quartet thrives, Branford continues to expand his status as a musical collaborator that dates back to his early experiences as a sideman with Clark Terry, Art Blakey and his brother Wynton Marsalis and extends through encounters with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock and Harry Connick, Jr.

As always, Branford also remains eager to join in musical ventures with artists in other musical realms. His relationship with Sting, which began with the pop icon’s first solo album The Dream of the Blue Turtles in 1985, was resumed when Branford contributed solos to Sting’s collaboration with reggae star Shaggy, 44/876. And Branford’s status among Deadheads, dating back to 1990 as the ultimate guest artist with the Grateful Dead, moved the spinoff band Dead and Co. to break precedent for the first time and announce Branford as a guest artist at the band’s August 26, 2018 concert in Arrington, Virginia.

Classical music also continues to play a growing role in Branford’s musical life. Sally Beamish reconceived her composition “Under the Wing of the Rock” to feature him after hearing Branford interpret another of her works, and Gabriel Prokofiev wrote “The Saxophone Concerto” for Branford on a joint commission from the Naples Philharmonic and the Detroit Symphony. Branford and the Ural Philharmonic performed and recorded the Prokofiev piece during August 2018 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Branford has performed these and other works by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem, Vaughan Williams and Villa-Lobos with leading orchestras in the United States and Europe, and served as Creative Director for the Cincinnati Symphony’s Ascent Series in 2012-13.

The roll of Branford’s contributions to the Broadway stage expanded in 2018 when he scored acclaimed director Kenny Leon’s revival of “Children of a Lesser God.” His previous efforts included music for the revival of “Fences,” which garnered him a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination, “The Mountaintop” starring Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson, and the revival of “A Raisin in the Sun.”

All of these achievements have been supplemented by Branford’s efforts beyond the realms of performance and composition. After directing Columbia Record’s jazz program, he founded the Marsalis Music label in 2002. He has held workshops on campuses around the world, while establishing extended teaching relationships with Michigan State, San Francisco State and North Carolina Central Universities. After the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Branford joined his friend Harry Connick, Jr. and New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity in the creation of the Musicians’ Village, a community in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward that provides homes to displaced families of musicians and other local residents. The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, honoring Branford’s father and Connick’s teacher, provides state-of-the-art performance, instruction and recording spaces at the heart of the Village. For these and other efforts, Branford received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Tulane University in 2017, adding to a series of awards including three Grammys and his citation (together with his father and brothers) as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Branford continues to spread the message of his music around the world, including Russia, where he appeared in St. Petersburg’s host-city celebration of International Jazz Day 2018, and China, where he headlined Shanghai’s JZ Jazz Festival the following September. Regardless of context or location, Branford Marsalis remains steadfast in his quest for musical excellence.

CLASSICAL

Growing up in the rich environment of New Orleans as the oldest son of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, Branford was drawn to music along with siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. His first instrument, the clarinet, gave way to the alto and then the tenor and soprano saxophones when the teenage Branford began working in local bands. A growing fascination with jazz as he entered college gave him the basic tools to obtain his first major jobs, with trumpet legend Clark Terry and alongside Wynton in Art Blakey’s legendary Jazz Messengers. When the brothers left to form the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, the world of uncompromising acoustic jazz was invigorated. Branford formed his own quartet in 1986 and, with a few minor interruptions in the early years, has sustained the unit as his primary means of expression. Known for the telepathic communication among its uncommonly consistent personnel, its deep book of original music replete with expressive melodies and provocative forms, and an unrivaled spirit in both live and recorded performances, the Branford Marsalis Quartet has long been recognized as the standard to which other ensembles of its kind must be measured.

Branford has not confined his music to the quartet context however. Classical music inhabits a growing portion of Branford’s musical universe. A frequent soloist with classical ensembles, Branford has become increasingly sought after as a featured soloist with such acclaimed orchestras as the Chicago, Detroit, Düsseldorf, and North Carolina Symphonies and the Boston Pops, with a growing repertoire that includes compositions by Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem and Vaughn Williams.

Under the direction of conductor Gil Jardim, Branford Marsalis and members of the Philharmonia Brasileira toured the United States in the fall of 2008, performing works by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, arranged for solo saxophone and orchestra. This project commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the revered Brazilian composer’s death.

Making his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic in the summer of 2010, Marsalis was again invited to join them as soloist in their 2010‐2011 concert series where he unequivocally demonstrated his versatility and prowess, bringing “a gracious poise and supple tone… and an insouciant swagger” (New York Times) to the repertoire.

In 2013, Branford served as Creative Director for the Ascent Series of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra which included two week-long residencies as well as a number of concerts with the CSO.

Once again partnering with an esteemed ensemble for a tour of the United States, Branford joined the highly celebrated Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in Marsalis “Well-Tempered” on a 20-city US tour in the fall of 2014, performing Baroque masterpieces by Albinoni, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and others.

Raising the bar yet again, Branford took on the challenging Saxophone Concerto by composer John Adams, performing the piece with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Edwin Outwater, in October 2015.

To begin 2016, Branford traveled to Germany for a concert with the prestigious Bayerische Staatsoper at the National Theatre in Munich performing an array of selections including Ter Velduis’ Tallahatchie Concerto.

He then returned to Asia twice in the spring of 2016, first for his debut collaboration with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, followed by a trip to Kuala Lumpur where he performed two concerts with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at the Petronas Twin Towers.

The fall of 2016 saw Branford returning to his home state of Louisiana where he was invited to be a guest soloist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, presenting works by John Williams and Heitor Villa Lobos.

Broadway has also welcomed Branford’s contributions. His initial effort, original music for a revival of August Wilson’s Fences, garnered a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play and a Tony nomination for Best Original Score Written for the Theater. Branford also provided music for The Mountaintop, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, and served as musical curator for the 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Branford’s screen credits include the original music for Mo’ Better Blues and acting roles in School Daze and Throw Momma from the Train.

Branford formed the Marsalis Music label in 2002, and under his direction it has documented his own music, talented new stars such as Miguel Zenón, and un-heralded older masters including one of Branford’s teachers, the late Alvin Batiste. Branford has also shared his knowledge as an educator, forming extended teaching relationships at Michigan State, San Francisco State and North Carolina Central Universities and conducting workshops at sites throughout the United States and the world.

As for other public stages, Branford spent a period touring with Sting, collaborated with the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby, served as Musical Director of The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno and hosted National Public Radio’s widely syndicated Jazz Set. The range and quality of these diverse activities established Branford as a familiar presence beyond the worlds of jazz and classical music, while his efforts to help heal and rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina mark him as an artist with an uncommonly effective social vision. Together with Harry Connick, Jr. and New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, Branford conceived and helped to realize The Musicians’ Village, a community in the Upper Ninth Ward that provides homes to the displaced families of musicians and other local residents. At the heart of The Musicians’ Village stands the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a community center dedicated to preserving the rich New Orleans musical legacy containing state-of-the art spaces for performance, instruction and recording.

Some might gauge Branford Marsalis’s success by his numerous awards, including three Grammys and (together with his father and brothers) his citation as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. To Branford, however, these are only way stations along what continues to be one of the most fascinating and rewarding journeys in the world of music.

Contact Information

Management/Booking: Management
Wilkins Management
323 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
info@wilkinsmanagement.com
Tel: 617-354-2736

Bookings
Opus 3 Artists
470 Park Avenue South
9th Floor N.
New York, NY 10016
www.opus3artists.com
Tel: 212-584-7576
Attn: Matthew Oberstein

European Bookings
Music Works International
34 Gould Street
Suite 207
Reading, MA 01867
musicworksinternational.com
Tel: +01 781-300-7580
Attn: Katherine McVicker

Media & Markets

▶ Website: http://www.branfordmarsalis.com
▶ YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/marsalismusic
▶ YouTube Music: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UCPS0b7e1e4kBGmlfot0fzdw
▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/21Jrn9lGRwkXZyFz2bJjaf
▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/3na9FnPyBfh9MA9sR5uDEb
▶ Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/0p9pjx1LrmYBb70ns5lMGz
▶ Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/0J7dyT7mFs7BJGmuU1x2rB
▶ Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/6iTAitvVN0eI0XxWOCcYZE
▶ Spotify 6: http://open.spotify.com/album/4pllcxwviwv0UuKlCSLorB

Clips (more may be added)

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By Branford Marsalis

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