House of Drumming.com

"...we don't feel that we have to assert a national superiority."

It seems to me that what Branford is speaking about here is to the constant questions he gets when touring Europe. One of the awesome things about touring in, say, France, is how proud each region is of their food and wine. They really do want you to try it all, enjoy it, and agree with them that their region produces the best in all of France. You'll easily and happily gain pounds sampling all the delicious cheeses and pastries and soups and meats and on and on... it rules.

But, this attitude isn't just reserved for foodstuffs. Europeans (NOT ALL OF THEM) want to know if YOU know about their culture and music. Even as someone who's not in the same league as Branford, my bandmates and I get the, "Do you know so and so? He's the best saxophonist in all of Germany. You don't know him? Why is this? He is so famous!" And so on...
It seemed to me that that was what Brandford was speaking about, at least on the surface. That instead of saying this guy is a great player and leaving it at that, there's always got to be some mention of where said player comes from. Which, again, is what I got from the interview on the surface. I do think, however, that when it comes to jazz for the most part, that Americans do feel some superiority, and Europeans feel some degree of inferiority. Which is some weird bullshit, but it's there. Things change, however. Remember the Dream Team in the '92 olympics? We don't destroy other countries' teams like that anymore. The world is catching up and occasionally beating us. What does this have to do with basketball? I don't know.

"From a little kid from Louisiana, it's all pretty Fu*** good to me".

Love it....... Branford just doesn't buy into any of the PC stuff..... very refreshing

Branford Marsalis on which drummer he'd pick for a supergroup >>>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5iPBttxHlM#t=5m19s

"Vinnie Colaiuta, Manu Katche, and John Bonham"

Branford is the "Anti-Ken Burns"........

Tom Reschke wrote:"...we don't feel that we have to assert a national superiority."

It seems to me that what Branford is speaking about here is to the constant questions he gets when touring Europe. One of the awesome things about touring in, say, France, is how proud each region is of their food and wine. They really do want you to try it all, enjoy it, and agree with them that their region produces the best in all of France. You'll easily and happily gain pounds sampling all the delicious cheeses and pastries and soups and meats and on and on... it rules.

But, this attitude isn't just reserved for foodstuffs. Europeans (NOT ALL OF THEM) want to know if YOU know about their culture and music. Even as someone who's not in the same league as Branford, my bandmates and I get the, "Do you know so and so? He's the best saxophonist in all of Germany. You don't know him? Why is this? He is so famous!" And so on...
It seemed to me that that was what Brandford was speaking about, at least on the surface. That instead of saying this guy is a great player and leaving it at that, there's always got to be some mention of where said player comes from. Which, again, is what I got from the interview on the surface. I do think, however, that when it comes to jazz for the most part, that Americans do feel some superiority, and Europeans feel some degree of inferiority. Which is some weird bullshit, but it's there. Things change, however. Remember the Dream Team in the '92 olympics? We don't destroy other countries' teams like that anymore. The world is catching up and occasionally beating us. What does this have to do with basketball? I don't know.

I was guilty of the same thing when I lived in Canada, and even for the first few years after I moved to California. I think it originates from being inundated with American culture through the media which has been dominated by the U.S. forever. I think this sort of attitude is slowly evaporating as the world gets smaller and smaller due to the speed of communications and instant and immediate access to creative content from virtually everywhere.

It's still hard to find some hard swingin' cat in France !!!
My biggest fear when I sent my my album to Tain was that he would told me, good french band...

Rodge wrote:My biggest fear when I sent my my album to Tain was that he would told me, good french band...

By the way...did you know that Eric Harland turned down Branford Marsalis' offer to join his band?
>>>

I did not know, kudos to him for what he says, what he said to Branford.

Rodge wrote:It's still hard to find some hard swingin' cat in France !!!
My biggest fear when I sent my my album to Tain was that he would told me, good french band...

maybe it's a culture thing? i mean it must be hard for a kid who grew up in europe,asia etc. to swing like a kid from the states? but you really can't say it doesn't swing though,its just different maybe? same thing for other countries,like americans playing latin. i read somewhere what they call new york songo or fusion songo.

I find this interesting stuff. Like Art Blakey said, you'll sound like who you are. Your heart will always shine trough, and the audience can hear that. If you are a narrow-minded guy, you will sound like one too. Americans have a different stand in life compared to most Europeans. We all look the same but we're not. This is not bad or good, it is just different. But I believe that a lot of it has too do with scale. Like the attitude between the US and Canada. Europe has something like 26 US of A's and 26 Canada's ;-]