Sound Advice: Award-Winning Jazz Musician Branford Marsalis to Perform in Cincinnati

This story is featured in CityBeat's Jan. 10 print edition.

Award-winning jazz musician Branford Marsalis has helped carry the medium forward, building on traditions and, at times, stepping outside of them.

Marsalis is also a composer for film, a multi-genre collaborator, a sometimes-actor, an educator and more.

Born in the home of jazz, New Orleans, Marsalis, along with brother Wynton Marsalis, have become jazz legends in their own right. While a student at Berklee College of Music and early on in his career, Marsalis played with jazz legends like Lionel Hampton, Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock, as well as with his brother Wynton’s quintet before moving on to his first solo release, 1984’s Scenes In The City. 

Marsalis began a long working relationship with musician Sting in 1985 and formed his own group, the Branford Marsalis Quartet, the following year with the release of Royal Garden Blues.

The group would go on to win a Grammy in 1992 for I Heard You Twice the First Time, the first of three for Marsalis. He became the bandleader for The Tonight Show that same year, bringing along the members of his group before leaving in 1995. 

Additionally, Marsalis has popped up all over the musical landscape: he plays saxophone on Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power;” blended contemporary sounds and hip-hop with jazz to great effect with his collaborative project Buckshot LeFonque; built a storied connection collaborating with the Grateful Dead, along with countless other guest appearances.

As an actor, Marsalis had a part in Spike Lee’s School Daze (1988), as well as a handful of other on-screen appearances including the 1987 comedy Throw Momma From the Train, two cameos in episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and more. On the other side of film and TV, Marsalis has composed music for films like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), Rustin (2023) and his Emmy-nominated score for Tulsa Burning (2021).

Marsalis also served as the creative director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Ascent Series in 2013, performing many concerts with the orchestra.

Branford Marsalis performs at Memorial Hall on Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. Info: memorialhallotr.com.