Saturday • May 24, 2025 • 1:30 PM

Intuition Bier Hall
929 E Bay Street • Jacksonville, FL 32202

How do you get to the main stage at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival? Practice, practice, practice! Further your jazz education at this FREE session featuring jazz legend, Branford Marsalis. The moderator for this informative event will be 2010 Jacksonville Jazz Festival Hall of Fame Inductee, Na’im Rashid.
Aspiring and accomplished jazz musicians of all ages are invited to learn and grow their skills in an intimate setting located near the Jacksonville Jazz Festival event site.
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Branford Marsalis

New Orleans-born Branford Marsalis is a saxophonist, band leader, featured classical soloist, and a film and Broadway composer. In the process, he has become a multi award-winning artist with three Grammys, a citation by the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master and an avatar of contemporary artistic excellence.

The Branford Marsalis Quartet, formed in 1986, remains his primary means of expression. In its virtually uninterrupted three-plus decades of existence, the Quartet has established a rare breadth of stylistic range and has long been recognized as the standard to which other ensembles of its kind must be measured. The Quartet recently made its Blue Note Records debut with the release of Belonging, a full album interpretation of Keith Jarrett’s 1974 ECM album of the same name. A frequent soloist with classical ensembles, Branford is increasingly sought after as a featured soloist with acclaimed orchestras around the world. And his legendary guest performances with the Grateful Dead and collaborations with Sting have made him a fan favorite in the pop arena.

Branford has numerous screen credits as a composer including for the recent Netflix films Rustin and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He received a 2021 EMMY nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary and his work on Broadway has garnered a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination.

Na'im Rashid

Na’im Rashid is a retired Navy Broadcast Journalist whose radio career began in Philadelphia in 1968 and he has been dedicated to the preservation of jazz since that time. During his radio career, he programmed the highly-rated Progressive 98 show on WYLD-FM New Orleans. He also worked for commercial radio stations and the American Forces Radio and Television service. After relocating to Jacksonville, he established the Jazz Vibrations radio show on V101.5 FM, a popular show that is still enjoyed by fans today.

 

Rashid retired in 2008 and continues to keep jazz alive in Jacksonville. He was instrumental in the development of the Jazz Jam at the Ritz Theatre & LaVilla Museum, a monthly jam session where he is also the program host. He also serves as president of the Ritz Jazz Society of Jacksonville, leading a dedicated group of local jazz supporters. For his support of jazz in our community and his participation in past jazz festivals, Na’im Rashid was inducted into the Jacksonville Jazz Festival Hall of Fame.