On the morning I was to talk to tenor saxophonist Don Braden, he didnít answer the phone. I called his manager and she mildly panicked. Thatís not like him, she said, before trying to reach him herself.

It was only four hours worth, but it was sleep. He explained that he had jammed in a Manhattan club until 3 a.m. and then had driven to his East Orange, N.J., home to work on mastering some recent sessions in his digital studio. He had fallen asleep sometime around 7 a.m.

I would never have guessed that he was tired if he had not told me. Braden is pure, unbridled energy, and his words rush along faster than Coltraneís sheets of sound. He set up for a recording session while he talked on a speaker phone, punched a computer keyboard and banged around the studio. Like all great musicians, he didnít miss a beat. I sensed that he has a brain well-equipped for overloads.

But Braden, 37, doesnít blow your brains out with volume or reckless intensity. His jazz is sweet and soulful, tightly delivered and instantly communicative. While completing his eleventh album, Braden continues his career as performer, composer, arranger and teacher.

Bradenís resume includes some of jazz's greatest contemporary names. It therefore makes sense that he had some critical brickbats to throw at Ken Burnsí documentary, "Jazz." Although Braden enjoyed the first three episodes, he wondered why the filmmaker didnít feature more living jazz legends in the rest of the film.

"I would say thatís a pretty serious flaw," Braden said. "Of course, they may have been so incendiary, they may have ended up on the cutting room floor."

As a child in Louisville, Ken., Braden's early attraction to music gravitated more to Isaac Hayes, Michael Jackson and pop music than jazz icons. However, Braden, the first musician in his family, started playing tenor sax in his middle school and joined his first professional band two years later. He was chosen as first chair for the McDonald's All-American High School Jazz Band and All-American High School Marching Band and received an award from Yamaha Instruments.

Braden began developing himself as a composer while a computer and engineering student at Harvard University, performing regularly in the Boston and Cambridge area and composing pieces for Harvard-based dance, film and music projects.

As most serious professional jazz musicians do at some point in their lives, Braden took his talent to New York City, the jazz mecca of the world.

His early gigs included a stint with scat singer Betty Carter (playing on her Grammy Award-winning album, "Look What I Got"), and in a burst of youthful confidence, Braden simply picked up the phone and requested the gig that would be his most important one yet.

Braden called up trumpeter and neo-jazz traditionalist Wynton Mar-salis, introduced himself and asked for a job. His gift of gab worked on Marsalis, who had been searching for a new band and direction. Braden describes Marsalis as "definitely a taskmaster," but ìnot emotional and crazy like some bandleaders are.î Marsalis was ìjust a catî and fun to hang out with, Braden recalls.

After his work with Marsalis, Braden toured extensively with drummers Tony Williams and Roy Haynes and as a member of trumpeter Freddie Hubbardís quintet. His gigs since 1991 have included the Mingus Big band, trombonist J. J. Johnson, the Dizzy Gillespie AllStars and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.

Bradenís recent projects as bandleader have included all star quartets and octets. His latest CD on the Double-Time jazz label, "Don Braden Presents the Contemporary Standards Ensemble," reflects Bradenís secret pop obsession, and puts pop standards, including a slow burning version of Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love," into jazz arrangements.

New York, according to Braden, offers jazz musicians plenty of work except for two mediums ó television and movies. But that didnít stop Braden from hooking up with a very famous actor who is also no slouch of a musician.

Braden spent four years as co-music supervisor and composer for Bill Cosbyís sitcom, ìCosby,î and he co-wrote the theme song for Cosbyís cartoon series, ìLittle Bill.î Braden gently scolded Cosby for not practicing more on his music, but he added that the actor "knows exactly what heís doing and he's got good instincts."

Those are the words of a true music teacher, and indeed, Braden devotes much of his schedule to sharing his art. He is currently an adjunct instructor of saxophone at William Paterson University, Music Director of the Litchfield Jazz Festival Summer Music School and Music Director of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Jazz for Teens Program. One look at his Master Class format, which declares that "student's performances will be critiqued," and one senses that this is not a class for a student yet to learn a scale.

"I tell ya' man, it's very difficult to improvise if you're a beginner," Braden said.

But Braden has knowledge to pass on to students that goes beyond scales and improvisation. Much of his instruction involves the reality of money, and according to Braden, it's best to bring up that subject while musicians are young.

"We try to instill in them a work ethic," Braden said, but even a dedicated and working musician can dig a deep hole of debt if investments, contracts, tax management and debt arenít understood.

"I was pretty lucky, actually," he said. "But I've seen people burn. I've seen people crash and burn. I've seen people suffer needlessly because they don't have a business sense."

Braden's reputation as a careful and savvy businessman destroys the myth of the musician who must suffer to develop his art. He receives e-mails every month from desperate musicians seeking advice on financial problems.

"Sometimes itís mental," he said. "People think they have to struggle and itís not necessary."

I couldn't let Braden go without asking him to name his jazz idols and favorite albums. His main hero is saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who he respects as a composer and for his work with Miles Davis. He confeses to a prolonged immersion in Davis' 1969 "Bitches Brew" and the trumpeter's late 1950s collaborations with Gil Evans, but considers Davisí 1968 ìFilles de Kilimanjaro,î featuring Shorter, as his favorite album.

"That one had the serious vibe and color I was seriously digging."

Braden said that the Waynesville gig will feature a rhythm section and ìnot a lot of complicated stuff. I'll keep it simple so cats can just relax and swing."

(Rohr teaches at Western Carolina University. He can be reached at rohr@wcu.edu)