Branford Marsalis is the antithesis of the disposable American society.
At the tender age of 31, Marsalis, a jazz saxophonist whose rise to fame is gaining meteoric momentum in the 1990s (he will take Doc Severinsen's place when comedian Jay Leno takes over "The Tonight Show" in May), talks about obtaining a musical maturity."I've loved to imitate other people," he said in a telephone interview. "I figured in the end I'd still sound like me. But you reach the point when the games and experimenting have to stop and you have to follow the path you've chosen for yourself. I reached that point about two years ago."
But Marsalis, who will appear in Kingsbury Hall at 8 p.m. Friday, March 6, has developed an enduring style partly because he is so serious and intellectually curious about music. During the interview, the passionate strains of a Giacomo Puccini opera could be heard in the background.
"Great masters intently study the designs of their predecessors," he said. He talks excitedly about the many opera recordings he owns, including a collection of Richard Wagner's works that he said will take about a year to listen to.
Marsalis pores over all types of music, from classical to the standards of jazz to esoteric African and Arabic works. "Anything I can get my hands on."
That's why he has little patience with many of today's flash-in-the-pan pop artists. Twenty or 30 years ago, musicians talked more about the people who influenced them, he said. Now, all they talk about is how many women they've had. The country seems to be more obsessed with what is new rather than what is good.
"Guys started coming out in the '70s saying they had no influences," Marsalis said. "They were right, and their music sounded like crap."
Marsalis' own influences are as varied as his resume. He has worked with artists ranging from Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie to Tina Turner, Teena Marie and the Grateful Dead. He spent four years as a central figure in Sting's band and had movie roles in "Bring on the Night," "Throw Momma From the Train" and Spike Lee's "School Daze."
His upcoming role on "The Tonight Show" is certain to bring him even greater fame, although he doesn't have much to say about what this new dimension of his career will mean.
His assessment of current society isn't all negative. He enjoys living in an age and a country where great volumes of information are accessible and where society has lost much of its naivete. "It used to be impossible for a black kid from Louisiana to be exposed to opera," he said.
Tickets to Friday's concert are $16 and $18, available at the hall, with a $5 discount for University of Utah students.
Marsalis will also perform Saturday, March 7, in Logan, in the Kent Concert Hall of Utah State University's Chase Fine Arts Center. Starting time is 7 p.m., and tickets are $12 adults, $7 youth or $3 USU students, available at the ticket office in the Smith Spectrum.