Ellis Louis Marsalis Jr.
(November 14, 1934 – April 1, 2020) was an American
jazz pianist and educator. Active since the late 1940s, Marsalis came to greater attention in the 1980s and 1990s as the patriarch of the Marsalis musical family, when sons
Branford and
Wynton became popular jazz musicians.
Early life
Born in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
,
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, Marsalis was the son of Florence Marie (née Robertson) and
Ellis Marsalis Sr., a businessman and social activist.
Marsalis and his wife Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis had six sons:
Branford,
Wynton, Ellis III,
Delfeayo, Mboya, and
Jason. Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason also became jazz musicians.
Ellis III is a poet and photographer.
Marsalis played
tenor saxophone and piano during high school, and performed locally with a rhythm and blues band that included pianist
Roger Dickerson. After high school, Marsalis served a year in the Marine Corps where he performed on piano for the majority of his duty. He subsequently attended
Dillard University, where he graduated in 1955 with a degree in
music education.
While attending Dillard, he worked as the high school band director at what was then Xavier University Preparatory School on Magazine Street, where he witnessed the classical playing of one of the students, piano prodigy
James Booker. Marsalis later attended graduate school at
Loyola University New Orleans.
In the 1950s and 1960s he worked with
Ed Blackwell,
Cannonball Adderley,
Nat Adderley, and
Al Hirt. During the 1970s, he taught at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. His students have included
Terence Blanchard,
Harry Connick Jr.,
Donald Harrison, Kent Jordan,
Marlon Jordan, and
Nicholas Payton.
Musical career
Marsalis recorded nearly twenty of his own albums and was featured on many discs with such musicians as
David "Fathead" Newman,
Eddie Harris,
Marcus Roberts, and
Courtney Pine. As a teacher, he encouraged his students to learn from history while also making discoveries in music on their own.
"We don't teach jazz, we teach students," he once said about his ability to teach
jazz improvisation.
As a leading educator at the
New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the
University of New Orleans, and
Xavier University of Louisiana, Marsalis influenced the careers of countless musicians, as well as his four musician sons:
Wynton,
Branford,
Delfeayo and
Jason. Marsalis retired from UNO in 2001.
In May 2007, Marsalis received an honorary doctorate from
Tulane University for his contributions to jazz and musical education.
Awards
Marsalis was inducted into the
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2018.
The ''
Ellis Marsalis Center for Music'' at
Musicians' Village in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
is named in his honor. In 2010, The Marsalis family released a live album titled ''Music Redeems'', which was recorded at The
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in
Washington, D.C., as part of the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. All proceeds from the sale of the album go directly to the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.
Marsalis and his sons were group recipients of the 2011
NEA Jazz Masters Award.
Marsalis was a fraternity brother of
Phi Beta Sigma and
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
In 2015, Marsalis was named Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia's 24th ''Man of Music'', their highest honor given to a member, for advancing the cause of music in America through performance, composition or any other musical activity.
In 2018, Marsalis was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...
during its 50th annual High School Jazz Festival.
Marsalis received a
Grammy Trustees Award posthumously in 2023, accepted in his absence by his son Jason and granddaughter Marley.
Death
On April 1, 2020, Marsalis died at the age of 85 from pneumonia brought on by
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
.
Personal life
Marsalis and his wife, Dolores, were Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and raised all their children in the faith. The youngest of his sons is Mboya Kenyatta Marsalis, who is diagnosed with autism and has been cared for by his brother Delfeayo since their father's death. Their mother, Dolores, died in 2017.
Discography
As leader
* 1985 ''Syndrome''
As sideman or guest
With American Jazz Quintet
* 1987 ''From Bad to Badder''Cornell Dupree
Cornell Luther Dupree (December 19, 1942 – May 8, 2011) was an American jazz fusion and Rhythm and blues, R&B guitarist. He worked at various times with Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, King Curtis, and Steve Gadd, appeared on ''L ...
Gerald Wilson
Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. He arranged music for D ...
See also
* Deaths in 2020
* List of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic
References
External links
*
NPR's Jazz Profiles: Ellis Marsalis
*
Ellis Marsalis Interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (March 21, 2015)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsalis, Ellis
1934 births
2020 deaths
20th-century American pianists
African-American jazz musicians
American jazz pianists
American male jazz pianists
Blue Note Records artists
Columbia Records artists
Jazz musicians from New Orleans
21st-century American pianists
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Louisiana
Dillard University alumni
Loyola University New Orleans alumni
University of New Orleans faculty
Xavier University of Louisiana faculty
Ellis Jr.
African-American Catholics
African-American pianists
21st-century African-American musicians
NEA Jazz Masters