MARSALIS - SWINGING´AT THE HAVEN

SWINGING´AT THE HAVEN

THE MARSALIS FAMILY

SONGWRITER: THE MARSALIS FAMILY

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: THE MARSALIS FAMILY: A JAZZ CELEBRATION

LABEL: MARSALIS LABEL

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 2002

 

        Marsalis family, American family, considered the “first family of jazz,” who (particularly brothers Wynton and Branford) had a major impact on jazz in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The family includes Ellis(b. November 14, 1934, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.—d. April 1, 2020, New Orleans) and his sons Branford (b. August 26, 1960, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana), Wynton(b. October 18, 1961, New Orleans), Delfeayo(b. July 28, 1965, New Orleans), and Jason(b. March 4, 1977, New Orleans).

         Ellis Marsalis began as a tenor saxophonist but switched to piano while in high school. After earning a music degree from Dillard University and serving in the U.S. Marines, he worked for the AFO (All-for-One) record label in the late 1950s, recorded with brothers Nat and Julian (“Cannonball”) Adderley in 1962, and was trumpeter Al Hirt’s pianist during 1967–70. It was as a jazz educator, however, that he made his greatest mark. In 1974 he began teaching at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, where his pupils included Harry Connick, Jr., Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Nicholas Payton, and Kent and Marlon Jordan, as well as his own six sons, four of whom became celebrated musicians. The success of his sons resulted in Ellis’s attaining stardom in the 1980s, and he recorded steadily thereafter.

        All five members of the Marsalis family were named Jazz Masters by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2011.