One of the most prolific American musicians, with a discography featuring over 100 releases. Many of them refer to the canon of jazz, although Braxton himself emphasises that he is not a jazz musician. He also composed for orchestras, creating, among other things, two opera series.

He studied philosophy at the Roosevelt University. In the 1980s he taught at Mills College and was also a music professor at Wesleyan University from the 1990s onwards. He taught composition and music history with an emphasis on the avant-garde, and also led the ensembles playing his compositions.

In 1994, he received a MacArthur Fellowship (dubbed “the genius grant”). In 2013, he was awarded the Jazz Master title by the National Endowment for the Arts, a U.S. government agency supporting culture and art.