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Branford Marsalis began expressing his thoughts on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina before a question could be asked concerning the subject at hand—his involvement with Habitat for Humanity’s and the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity’s Musicians Village project. The renowned saxophonist along with his father, pianist Ellis Marsalis and pianist/singer Harry Connick, Jr. are the honorary chairs of Habitat’s program Operation Home Delivery that plans to build affordable homes for musicians affected by the storm. The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, which will provide performance and classroom space, will act as the Village focal point.
While Branford was in the city in early December for a press conference about the teaming, the New Orleans native and Durham, North Carolina resident felt it was important that he and his family observe the destruction caused by the storm. During their stay, they had remained in parts of the city that hadn’t been ravaged.
“They needed to see,” Branford declares. “My wife said, ‘Well, there really doesn’t look like there’s that much damage.’ And I said, ‘That’s all right, before we catch our airplane tomorrow we’re going to take a little trip.’ So we went down to the Lower Ninth Ward and drove around. And it looked like a war zone. Although never having gone through a war but having read all about it, the level of displacement is synonymous with bombs being dropped on our city.”
Branford understands that rebuilding the city is a monumental undertaking and that the time it will take remains incomprehensible to most in this day and age. In comparison, he looks back to the mindset of people after World War II and that of today.
“In 1945, when Hitler gives up and Europe is decimated nobody was saying, ‘We’re going to come home. In two weeks this should be fine.’ There was tacit acknowledgement that this was some shit that was going to take years not weeks not months. But as we live in an era when information can be acquired in seconds we have grown unaccustomed to the concept of years.
“One of my main gripes is that it’s something that also screws up music,” he continues. “This folly, this notion, that musicians can be trained like accountants. So you have kids who expect to go to a school and within three to five years learn how to be competent enough to work and they shut off their learning experience—what they are at 21, is basically what they are. They shut off all possibility for change.
“It’s that same kind of mentality that allowed a lot of people in our country to tolerate an incompetent government for the last five years. Because in times of crisis people think they need strong men and strong words and consistency. I’ve always been taught that in times of crisis one should become more curious. People tend to become less curious in times of crisis. So along comes this hurricane and then you have people thinking that FEMA is going to come in and give them a pile of money, they’re going to rebuild and in six weeks it’s going to be fine. But then weeks turn into months and then despair sets in. It’s like, “Goddamn, this is going to take forever.” It’s like, “Who told you it wasn’t going to take forever?” But our society tells you that. When you can turn on “Extreme Makeover” and watch them build homes in an hour even though it really doesn’t take an hour, you get “Why not?”
Branford and I finally get down to the topic of his participation in the Musicians Village. The plan, at present, is to build houses, which are promised to be in sympathy with New Orleans’ distinct architecture, in a yet-to-be determined neighborhood on already vacant lots or where houses that were destroyed by Katrina have been demolished.
I know Harry has been involved with Habitat of for Humanity for many years. Did he come to you or were you just sitting around talking?
Well, we share a manager [Anne-Marie Wilkins]. When the stuff started happening, I didn’t respond. I was watching the television and I was furious and upset and I actually went into a depression. The phone starts ringing with all of these this damn press people and they just wanted a statement. They didn’t give a damn, they just wanted their little 15-second sound bite. A lot of New Orleans musicians jumped up and got up in it. Wynton was good for getting up in it. I just didn’t want any part of that because I realized this was going to take years so there really was no real rush. A good metaphor is that I was playing golf with a friend of mine and his caddie was a Jamaican. He birdied the first hole and his response was, “Well, if you don’t birdie the first one, you can’t birdie them all.” The Jamaican said, “There is another way to look at it: “He who shits fast does not shit for long.”
I heard that about eight years ago and I’ve held on to it. So I always try to take my time in situations whereas the media’s reaction is to rush, rush, rush. So after about three weeks Anne-Marie called me up and said, “People have started to wonder why you haven’t said anything.” My response was I don’t really give a damn what they think. “Well,” she said, “You have to care what they think.” And I said, “No, no, I don’t.” And she said, “Well look we’re doing this thing with Habitat, are you interested?” And I said, “Well, of course. I love Habitat.” I’ve always felt Habitat was by far the greatest public relations tool that the United States has had in decades because it doesn’t require the English language just a hammer and a nail. If you want to win some hearts and minds, you build people houses. So it was, “Okay, yeah, great” and then it took off from there.
Were you in on the discussion concerning the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music being a part of the Village?
No, I think that was my manager’s idea. It would never occur to me to name a building after my father. When they brought the idea to me—How do you feel about this?—I said, “That would be nice.” I’m kind of caught in the middle. Like most people from the outside say that the Marsalises are the first family of jazz but they never heard of the Paulins, the Celestins, the Frenches or all these families that we have in New Orleans. I kind of thought about it and I was torn because there are other great families in New Orleans. But I guess we’re going to need funds to keep this thing afloat—building it is easy, maintaining is it is a different story—and I think because my dad has an international reputation it will be easier to get people to continue to donate their time and their funds to a building with his name on it.
Have you actually sat down and talked with anybody about the Music Village concept? Some people have expressed concerns about it—architecturally, philosophically.
No. My boy [Times-Picayune columnist] Lolis Eric Elie wrote me an email that was brilliant. I think it was about the idea that when Habitat comes in and says Musicians Village, there was this thought that they were going to get those regular Habitat homes and build them so you’d have this strange looking community in the middle of New Orleans. He was very concerned about that. He’s an advocate for the city like a lot of people who live here are—that’s one of the reasons why I love New Orleans so much. I’ve never been to a place in America where people are so enamored with the culture that even people who come from elsewhere adapt to the culture. So it has to be things that maintain the essence of the culture. We don’t want to contribute to McMansioning of the city.
I suggested to someone who was concerned about the Village concept that because of the involvement of Habitat for Humanity, you, Harry and Ellis it personally gave me a lot of trust in the project.
Habitat has never screwed up wherever they have gone. One of the things I’m going to do is use whatever little clout I have—’cause it ain’t a lot, like Harry has way more of that stuff than me—to raise money. That’s what my job is, to raise money. I’m not going to stop practicing and being a musician to become a city planner. I’m shitty at that. If somebody brings ideas to me, I will have ideas. I’ve always done well in my career by deferring to those who do things better than me, not by micro managing. I trust that Habitat won’t come in and screw this up. A lot of people were just pissed off because it focuses on musicians. That just goes in line with how musicians have been treated in this city forever. The musicians of New Orleans have put me in the position that I am in today and I’m going to spend the lion’s share of my effort trying to take care of them first and everyone else second since everyone else has spent their time taking care of their interests first and musicians’ third. There are a lot of musicians who have been struggling to make ends meet in that city. And if we can set up a situation using the Habitat formula to help them own a home for just a little more than it would cost to rent a place that’s the first and foremost thing in my mind. That’s the most important thing to me. Ultimately, it would be great for it to have the same character that New Orleans has. In reality, with all the character that New Orleans has, they’ve done nothing to help in the hundreds of years that the musicians have been there. My focus will be on the musicians first and it’s not just jazz musicians. We have an orchestra that is struggling to stay afloat and we have piles of musicians struggling to make ends meet. The primary thing to me is that musicians get a fair shake in a town that they have built.
A lot of older musicians lost their homes. I know Lionel Ferbos lost his home and Chuck Badie lost his home.
That’s another part of the Musicians Village. We’re going to be setting up a home for older musicians. There were so many 70- and 80-year old musicians who were scattered all over this city even before this crap happened—who were living in situations where they were removed from what it was that made them feel special. So if we can put them in a situation where they are around each other and use the music center—do rehearsals, put on concerts.
Have you been to formal meetings? Have you and Harry discussed the Village concept?
There are formal things but I won’t be participating in them. It’s hard enough being a musician; I don’t have time for meetings. But I will be getting my “famous friends” to get their asses down here and build homes when it’s time. They’re going to have hammers and nails. And their going to volunteer and I’m going to pressure them to do things. Harry and I talked about it a lot when we were doing concerts to raise money for it. We’ve done like 10 or 11 concert—duos like the album [2005’s Occasion released on Branford’s Marsalis Music label]. We’ll be doing more but Harry’s in rehearsal for the Broadway show, “The Pajama Game,” so we won’t be doing any concerts any time soon. Maybe he’ll get some time off. Who knows? I’d love to do a show in New Orleans—love to. If I had my druthers I’d be doing it in New Orleans right now for the people who are there and toughin’ it out. The Saenger is open—let’s go play at the Saenger. Give the people free tickets.
Do you have any other plans to play down here?
I have a concert I’m supposed to play with the Louisiana Philharmonic in March. I think it’s still scheduled and I haven’t taken it off my calendar. I’m practicing for it—classical pieces. The whole idea is because of all the other stuff that I’ve done that there’s going to be a whole lot of people going to these [symphony] concerts that ordinarily wouldn’t go. That’s why these orchestras hire me. That’s their attraction. My attraction is that I get to play very challenging and difficult music and play with the people that play it best. I’m a student in my mind. I’m going to be a student until I die so I’m always putting myself in situations that force me to improve. And this is one of those situations.
I just played with the Orlando Philharmonic and they donated their time which was exceedingly kind of them. We raised $75,000 for the Katrina Musicians Relief Fund, which is our own 501-C3 that our manager put together basically because of Harry’s affiliation with a lot of New Orleans musicians with his big band. There was a hot line that any musician could call any time of day and we’d try to set them up the best that we could. Half the money went to that and half went to Habitat.
How about Jazz Fest? Are you playing? Have you been approached?
That’s up to Quint [Festival producer Quint Davis]. Especially now, why in the hell would I say no to that? Even the usual quibbles we have over money wouldn’t be an issue now.
Congratulations on your Grammy nomination [for best jazz solo instrumental for the cut “Acknowledgement” from his album A Love Supreme: Live in Amsterdam].
Oh joy… I mean, pick up the newspaper, what do you see? I mean it’s flattering but it’s been a long time since the Grammys have meant anything about artistic anything. It’s always an honor to be respected by some of your peers and people in the industry. The nomination is actually the coolest part because the people who nominate you are your peers in the industry, the same industry as you. But when it gets to general voting, well, you know. The people who have record companies that are affiliated with larger companies stand a much better chance of succeeding than the people that don’t. That’s just the nature of the business. When you’re a little bitty company like ours [Marsalis Music] all you can really hope for is a nomination. It’s nice; don’t get me wrong. It’s just if I win, or Herbie Hancock wins or Joshua Redman or Michael Brecker it’s not like you open the newspaper and see “Herbie Hancock Wins Grammy” you read “XXX West Wins Three.”
Do you have any idea about a time frame as to when construction on the Musicians Village will begin?
I expect we’ll be building as early as January. That’s one of the reasons that there was no announcement until now. The thing that’s great about Habitat is they didn’t want to make an announcement until they were ready to do something. You know, when the president came out and made his announcement about giving us $6 billion or whatever the hell it was, I can’t remember, everybody said, “What do you think? Isn’t that great? The president is going to give New Orleans all this money.” Yeah, now call me when they give you the money. That’s political expediency at its best.
I went to a couple of Habitat homes in Orlando when I was there. When that hurricane hit Orlando two years ago, their homes stood tall and strong—no damage—because Habitat builds to hurricane specifications. That’s something that we can really use.
