Conversation and Clinic with Branford Marsalis

When:
Wednesday, Jan 28, 2015 5:00p -
6:00p

Where:
Harvard University, Leverett House Old Library
11 Mill St
Cambridge, MA 02138

EventScheduled OfflineEventAttendanceMode

Admission:
FREE

Categories:
Lectures & Conferences, Music, University

Event website:
http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/lfp/details.php?ID=45188

Free, tickets/RSVPs not required; seating first-come, first-served, subject to venue capacity.


Saxophonist, composer and bandleader Branford Marsalis will conduct a conversation on his career and creative process and lead a clinic with students in the Harvard Jazz Bands. This event is co-sponsored by the Celebrity Series of Boston. Marsalis and his quartet will appear in concert on Thursday, January 29 at 8 pm at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre, presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston. For more information and tickets, visit the Celebrity Series online or call 617.482.6661.


Growing up in the rich environment of New Orleans as the oldest son of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, Branford Marsalis 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 he 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. Marsalis 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.


Marsalis has not confined his music to the quartet context. In addition to guest turns with a legion of giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins, he has excelled in duets with several major pianists, including his boyhood friend Harry Connick, Jr. and the longtime pianist in his quartet, Joey Calderazzo. He formed the Marsalis Music label in 2002, and under his direction it has documented his own music, talented new stars such as Miguel Zenon, and neglected older masters including one of Marsalis’s teachers, the late Alvin Batiste. Marsalis 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.


Classical music inhabits a growing portion of Marsalis’s musical universe. With a repertoire including works by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem, Vaughn Williams, Villa‐Lobos and Sally Beamish, Maralis is frequently heard with leading symphony orchestras including those in Chicago, Detroit, Dusseldorf and North Carolina as well as the New York Philharmonic. He also served as Creative Director for the Cincinnati Symphony’s Ascent series in 2012‐13.


Broadway has also welcomed Branford’s contributions. His initial effort, original music for a revival of August Wilson’s play “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.”


As for other public stages, Marsalis 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.” Together with Harry Connick, Jr. and New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, Marsalis 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.


Marsalis is the recipient of three Grammy Awards, and—together with his father and brothers—has been honored as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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01/28/2015 17:00:00 01/28/2015 18:00:00 America/New_York Conversation and Clinic with Branford Marsalis Free, tickets/RSVPs not required; seating first-come, first-served, subject to venue capacity. Saxophonist, composer and bandleader Branford Marsalis will conduct a conversation on his career an... Harvard University, Leverett House Old Library, Cambridge, MA 02138 false MM/DD/YYYY

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