We all played bad before we played good.

- Branford Marsalis

The whole point is, give me a break with the standards. You go to the average jazz label and suggest a record and they want to know which standards y…

- Branford Marsalis

I think that if you keep banging at the door all you need is a little foothold, a little tiny foothold, and then the rest will take care of itself.

- Branford Marsalis

I don't care who likes it or buys it. Because if you use that criterion, Mozart would have never written Don Giovanni, Charlie Parker never would hav…

- Branford Marsalis

That's kind of like how jazz is sometimes. You're out there predicting the future, and no one believes you.

- Branford Marsalis

The biggest problem with American music right now, is that kids don't listen. They come by it honestly, Americans don't listen anyway. When people go…

- Branford Marsalis

What is jazz? It, It's almost like asking, What is French? Jazz is a musical language. It's a musical dialect that actually embodies the spirit of Am…

- 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.

- Branford Marsalis

Humans are imperfect. That's one of the reasons that classical and jazz are in trouble. We're on the quest for the perfect performance and every note…

- Branford Marsalis