The Grammy-winning saxophonist was born in New Orleans in 1960 but has lived in New York for over 20 years. He has long been one of the leading musicians of the jazz world. He is the oldest son in the famous Marsalis family of musicians.

Branford Marsalis studied at the Berklee Music College in Boston in 1979-80. In 1980 he burst onto the jazz scene in New York as a member of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, then two years later joined his brother Wynton’s group, touring and recording with them until 1984.

His first LP, “Scenes in the City”, appeared in 1983. A year later he played on a few tracks for Miles Davis’s “Decoy” album, as well as for Dizzy Gillespie’s “New Faces”. In 1985 he joined the band of the world rock star Sting, and toured the world with them up to the end of the decade. This brought him to Hungary for the first time in 1988 when he appeared with Sting in the Népstadion as part of the Amnesty International tour.

In 1985 he made his first classical music album, “Romances for Saxophone”. In the meantime, of course, he continued his career as a jazz musician, among others touring in Europe with Herbie Hancock’s group. He also made recordings under his own name and won a Grammy with “I Heard You Twice the First Time”.

In 1989 and 1990 he wrote music for two films by Afro-American film director Spike Lee – “Do the Right Thing” and “Mo’ Better Blues”. In 1994 he won another Grammy for the song “Barcelona Mona” performed together with the American pianist Bruce Hornsby, this time in the “instrumental pop” category. In 1994 he formed his jazz hip-hop group; their first CD was “Buckshot LeFonque”.

In 1996 he released two CDs, one – “Loved Ones” – in duo with his father Ellis Marsalis and the other – “The Dark Keys” – under his own name. In 1997 his second – and so far last –Buckshot LeFonque CD appeared: “Music Evolution” and the promotion tour brought him to Budapest again but he only met journalists and jazz college students. In the autumn of 1998, not long before the death of his pianist Kenny Kirkland, he came to Budapest again and performed at a private event in the Dokk. The music he played there appeared on a CD in 1999 titled “Requiem”. In 2001 he won a Grammy for his CD “Contemporary Jazz” released in 2000. In 2001 he set up his own recording company, Marsalis Music/Rounder Records. He issued two CDs here in the following year: a concert recording made with his family, “The Marsalis Family – A Jazz Celebration” and “Footsteps of Our Fathers” made with his own quartet. This was followed in 2003 by “Romare Bearden Revealed” and in 2004 by “Eternal”.

In the meantime, from 1998 he began to pay serious attention to classical music. At first he only appeared in concerts with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, then in 2001 they made their “Creation” CD with him.

“Free Style Chamber Orchestra” is a 20-member ensemble formed at the initiative of composer and pianist János Nagy and flautist Máté Pálhegyi. As its name suggests, the ensemble crosses the genre borders. The conventional string orchestra is joined by a likewise conventional quartet and “classical” woodwinds who, at times, can also play the instruments used in jazz orchestration.

Among the aims the members of the orchestra have set themselves is to make quality contemporary music accessible not just to a very limited audience but, as was the practice in all periods in the history of music, part of everyday life. Improvisation plays an important part in their music-making; they do it continuously and beyond the musical experience of the given moment it gives new meaning to the concept of “chamber music concert”.

It is said that as a child Nigel Kennedy listened to jazz in the evenings under the blankets at the college of the Menuhin School, where he was the first to enter on a Yehudi Menuhin scholarship. We know Kennedy mainly as an extravagant performer of Vivaldi (his Vivaldi CD sold more than 2 million copies, a Guinness record) and for his brilliant technical virtuosity, but he has not been unfaithful to jazz either. His 2006 album “Blue note sessions” and the concerts linked to the recording have been the musical sensation of the year.