‘Most Bizarre Thing That Ever Happened To Me’: Branford Marsalis Discusses Love From Grateful Dead Fans In New Interview

Renowned jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis played five shows with the Grateful Dead between March 1990 and December 1994. Marsalis not only hit it off with the band but his intricate and tasteful work also led many Deadheads to become his fans. Branford discussed his relationship with Grateful Dead fans in a new interview conducted by journalist Max Raskin.

“Why do you think Dead Heads love you so much?” Raskin asked the three-time Grammy winner. “I have no idea. That was the most bizarre thing that ever happened to me,” Marsalis explained. “The reaction to me playing with them was absolutely crazy, but Dead fans are different than a lot of other fans.”

The New Orleans-bred musician went on to share the following:

You take a guy like Sting. You can waste your time trying to deny the fact that he’s handsome if that really suits you. But he is handsome and he’s talented and he writes these incredible songs. But because of that, you have tiers of people who are there for different reasons. A lot of women were there because they just thought he was hot and they like the songs, but they’re not saying, “Oh my God, Sting’s a really great bass player,” which he is, but that’s not crossing their minds.

The Dead didn’t have to deal with any of those pretenses. They started in the ‘60s where that wasn’t really happening. Their fans were all big music fans. A lot of the Dead fans, they have a keen sense of when the band is killing it and when they’re not. That is a rare trait. I would talk to them, and they would say, “Yeah, you boys are a little off today, but you picked it up.” I guess it’s tough in many situations to play with the same guys for 30, 35 years. I was like the new sexual partner that showed up and it’s like, “Wow, we like this, let’s get him in,” because I brought a different sound to it. I think that a lot of the guys that played jazz sat in with the Grateful Dead and just played jazz.

The Branford Marsalis/Grateful Dead story began when bassist Phil Lesh invited the saxophonist to the Dead’s second show of a three-night stand at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on March 29, 1990. “Phil was the only guy who knew who I was,” Marsalis recalled in a 2014 Wall Street Journal interview. “They had had jazz guys sit in before with varying degrees of success. Mostly, lack of success because a lot of the guys who are up there playing with them didn’t grow up playing popular music.”

Branford initially sat-in on “Bird Song” towards the end of the first set and the seven musicians had an instant chemistry together. Marsalis wound up joining the band for their entire second set with the outrageous “Eyes Of The World” from the night included on the Dead’s Without A Net live album the following September. The “Eyes” played at Nassau ’90 “really changed my life,” Raskin told Marsalis. “Everybody understands what their function is in the band,” Branford responded.

Asked if the saxophonist immediately came to that realization, Marsalis said, “Yeah, of course. You can tell as soon as you hear a band what’s going on.” Longtime Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally discussed the initial collaboration in his What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been: The Inside History Of The Grateful Dead book. “On Thursday night I had the best time I’ve had in my entire life. I now know that playing rock and roll can be all that I have envisioned it would be,” Marsalis wrote in a thank you note to the band after his initial sit-in as documented in McNally’s book.

Branford Marsalis made his second Grateful Dead appearance on New Year’s Eve 1990 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena in the Bay Area. Marsalis joined the band again at Madison Square Garden in New York City on September 10, 1991. The other guest spots came in Los Angeles during December of both 1993 and 1994. At that point, Marsalis was leading the house band on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The connection continued after Jerry Garcia’s death as the saxophonist played with GD offshoots The Dead, Furthur and most recently Dead & Company at the 2015 LOCKN' festival. Marsalis also talked to Max Raskin about his formative years, his passion for golf, Stravinsky, Strauss and more. Head to MaxRaskin.com to read the full interview.