Young Branford Marsalis with David Sanborn, George Duke and Betty Carter

I have a vague memory of seeing Night Music with David Sanborn while flipping channels as a kid. It was before I played saxophone so I probably didn’t watch long enough to see much. But what a cool show! (If you’ve never heard of it, lots of episodes can be found on YouTube.)

In this episode a young Branford Marsalis talks about losing his “jazz” chops due to touring with Sting (~14:50), plays a loose modal jam with George Duke and Omar Hakim*, and later, sits in with the always-amazing Betty Carter (32:20). They have a nice give-and-take at the end.

While Branford’s sound is unmistakably his, his playing is nowhere near as refined as it is now (which makes sense, but is still nice to be reminded of…it takes time to grow as a musician). Well, unless you’re Chris Potter. 😉