Branford Marsalis - Other Appearances

Other Appearances

• Marsalis performed alongside Sting and Phil Collins at the London Live Aid concert in Wembley Stadium on June 13, 1985.
• Featured as saxophonist on "Fight the Power" (1989) by Public Enemy.
• Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Guest on the "Not My Job" section of the show. On this performance he claimed the saxophone was the sexiest instrument, then insults the accordion. In a later episode of the show, "Weird Al" Yankovic stands up for the accordion; later guest Yo-Yo Ma claimed the saxophone was in fact the sexiest.
• Interviewed on Space Ghost Coast to Coast Episode 10: "Gum, Disease" (aired November 11, 1994). Although the Coast to Coast crew said, "He was the most pleasant, and well mannered guest we had ever interviewed", he didn't sign a release for merchandising rights, so the episode couldn't be on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast Volume One DVD.
• Marsalis was featured in Shanice's 1992 hit "I Love Your Smile". In the second half of the song, he has a solo and Shanice says "Blow, Branford, Blow."
• He played the role of Lester in the movie Throw Momma from the Train (1987) and the role of Jordam in Spike Lee's 1988 musical-drama film School Daze.
• Cameo as a repair man who asks Hillary on a date in the episode "Stop Will! In the Name of Love", and as himself in the episode "Sleepless in Bel-Air" on the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1994).
• Interviews with Marsalis are featured prominently in the documentary Before the Music Dies (2006).
• Branford was a guest judge on the final episode of the fifth season of Top Chef which took place in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• On April 28 and 29, 2009 Branford played with The Dead (The remaining members of the Grateful Dead) at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, rekindling a relationship started when he performed with them at a legendary set at Nassau Coliseum March 29, 1990 during which, according to Dead aficionados, one of the greatest renditions of "Eyes of the World", was performed.
• On July 21, 2010, Branford guested with Dave Matthews Band on the songs "Lover Lay Down," "What Would You Say" and "Jimi Thing" at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Charlotte, NC. This was the first time Branford had guested with Dave Matthews Band, although he had previously played with Dave Matthews and Gov't Mule on a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" on December 16, 2006 in Asheville, NC.
• Branford appeared as a special guest of Bob Weir and Bruce Hornsby at two festivals in the summer of 2012. They first performed at the All Good Music Festival in Thornville, OH on July 19 and then headed to Bridgeport, CT for a performance at Gathering of the Vibes the following day.