Branford Marsalis is a Black American saxophonist, bandleader and composer whose first instrument was the clarinet. As a teenager he moved to alto, tenor and soprano saxophones and began working in local bands. Early professional jobs came with trumpeter Clark Terry and, alongside his brother Wynton, in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. When the brothers left to form the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Branford played in that group before forming his own quartet in 1986, which has remained his primary performance vehicle.
His work has reached well beyond the quartet. He toured with Sting, collaborated with the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby, served as musical director of The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno and hosted NPR's Jazz Set. In 2002, he established Marsalis Music, a label that recorded his own work, musicians including Miguel Zenón, and older masters such as Alvin Batiste, one of his teachers. Teaching became another continuing strand: he has taught at North Carolina Central University for many years, as well as at Michigan State University and San Francisco State University.
After Hurricane Katrina, Marsalis conceived the Musicians' Village in New Orleans's Upper Ninth Ward with Harry Connick Jr. and New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, a community of homes for displaced musicians and other residents. Its centerpiece, the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, named for his father, offers music education and services to young people and musicians from neighborhoods facing poverty. In January 2024, he was appointed the center's artistic director.
His recording of film and theater music continued with the 2023 film Rustin, for which he composed a score shaped around the needs of the story. Discussing "Show Me Your Ideas," he described starting with bass and drums and adding instruments as a scene moved from one speaker toward collective participation. Over four decades he has won three Grammy Awards, received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters citation and earned a Tony nomination for his work as a Broadway composer.
