Although frequently overshadowed by the reputation of his trumpet-playing brother, Wynton, Branford Marsalis ranks as one of the most popular and versatile saxophonists to emerge from jazz since the 1980s, an artist who has frequently departed from his sibling’s staunch traditionalism. Born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, in 1960, and raised in New Orleans as the son of the great Crescent City pianist Ellis Marsalis, he initially achieved fame working with Wynton in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, and then as a key member of his brother’s neo-bop quintet between 1981 and 1985. He then joined a number of young jazz musicians in the solo project of Police bassist Sting, setting in motion a recurring desire to reach beyond the mainstream jazz audience. In 1986, he launched an influential quartet with pianist Kenny Kirkland, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, and bassist Robert Hurst, but continued to branch out, acting in Spike Lee’s School Daze (1988) and becoming the leader of the Tonight Show Band when Jay Leno became the show’s host in 1992. Two years later he started Buckshot LeFonque, one of the first groups to blend jazz and hip-hop. He made some of his most enduring music with a new quartet formed in 1997, with pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis, and Watts, a band that has carried on with Justin Faulkner taking over the drum throne. While devoted to jazz, Marsalis has continued to explore other styles, whether performing with Dead & Co. or various classical orchestras including the New York Philharmonic.