When a show is really cooking, according to saxophonist Branford Marsalis, “there’s an energy in the room.”
Marsalis said in a recent chat over Zoom that he’s fully aware that when he and his quartet are playing venues larger than a jazz club, there’s a very real need to reach the audience.
“I am aware of the fact that the majority of the people that are there are not necessarily jazz fans, but they’re jazz curious,” Marsalis said. “So we try to play a variety of music.”
“The majority of the people in the room rely on songs with words,” Marsalis explained. “The words establish the emotional tenor of the song for them, and for really great songs, the music will emotionally match what the lyrics are. But the idea of instrumental music being a vehicle for emotion is a strange idea to a lot of people who are reliant on songs with words! So it's our job to use the power of sound to have an emotional effect on the audience.”
Marsalis brings his music to the Carver Center’s Jo Long Theatre this Friday night at 8 p.m. The Quartet is touring behind its latest release, “Belonging,” which is a full-album cover of a classic from acclaimed pianist Keith Jarrett, released 50 years ago.
Jarrett recorded the original “Belonging” with a collection of players on the ECM label, all Scandinavian. Marsalis hails from New Orleans, so it goes without saying that he’d bring a new approach to the material.
“We never had conversations on ‘how are we going to make it different?’” Marsalis said, “because we have different sonic reference points.”
“One of the things I complain about in academic settings … is that harmonic study is taught culture neutral. And I personally believe [that] you can't teach it alone and not include culture, because culture is based on sound. Like, if you ever listen to a lot of opera, you notice how French operas sound French, and German operas sound German, and Italian operas sound Italian. When you put them on the board, they look exactly the same — same 12 notes. But that's the importance of getting young people to listen to records, so they can understand that the data is not enough.”
That leads into the advice he has for young players: “Listening is practicing, too.”
“I make all of my students listen to music for from the 1930s, which is very frustrating for them, because they don't like it!” Marsalis said.
He gave an example of an exercise where students compared music of the past to today’s jazz.
“And what I [said] to them is, ‘What's different about this music than the music that you like?’ And they talk about harmony… and then they say the meter is different… I said [to them], ‘No, that's not really the thing.’ And then finally, after five minutes or so of them like saying the wrong things, I said, ‘Do you notice that every one of these songs that I play for you, they sound happy?’ And… their eyes get really big, because suddenly they realize it's true. ‘How many songs of the people that you prefer to listen to sound happy?’ Well, the answer is none, really.”
Marsalis explained to his students that great music stirs the emotions.
“If you want to play in jazz clubs in New York City that cater to jazz musicians, do what you're doing. But if you want to play for people, learn how to create sounds that make people feel happy, and then make them feel sad, and then make them feel angry.”
“I play for the people.”
BONUS: To hear our full interview with Branford Marsalis, use the audio player below.
