Branford Marsalis

Born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana and raised in the New Orleans musical environment, Branford Marsalis established himself at the beginning of the 1980s as a jazz saxophonist, first with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and then alongside his brother Wynton Marsalis. His playing, focused on the tenor and soprano saxophones, is part of an acoustic aesthetic that links hard bop, post-bop and the modern jazz tradition, with a strong sense of melodic line and collective improvisation. Branford Marsalis quickly broadened his scope by working with Sting on The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985), while developing his own discography notably with Scenes in the City (1984), Royal Garden Blues (1986) and Random Abstract (1988). Founded in 1986, the Branford Marsalis Quartet remains the core of his work, with significant personnel changes, notably the arrival of Eric Revis and later Joey Calderazzo and Justin Faulkner. In parallel, Branford Marsalis led the Tonight Show Band from 1992 to 1995, launched the Buckshot LeFonque project, which blends jazz, rock, funk and hip-hop, and pursued collaborations beyond the strict jazz field. His trajectory also includes classical projects, such as Romances for Saxophone (1986), Creation with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (2001), as well as a stage project with the music of Fences (2010). More recently, Branford Marsalis has continued the quartet’s activity with The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul (2019) and Belonging (2025).