Ellis Marsalis

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Ellis the big Daddy / is really loose, but only in the fingers

and it is moving to hear Jason, / who should be bowed down by tradition

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Ellis Marsalis albums:

Duke in Blue / Loved Ones / Joe Cool’s Blues / The Marsalis Family / Piano in E-Solo Piano / Heart of Gold

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Ellis L. Marsalis, Jr.

Ellis Marsalis, born November 14, 1934, is New Orleans’s premier modern jazz pianist. He began his formal studies at the Xavier University junior school of music at age eleven. After high school Marsalis enrolled at Dillard University (New Orleans) and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education.

After a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, Marsalis returned to New Orleans and married New Orleanian Dolores Ferdinand who bore him six sons: Branford, Wynton, Ellis III, Delfeayo, Mboya, and Jason.

Marsalis became New Orleans’ leading jazz educator. He became a lecturer at Xavier University and an adjunct teacher at Loyola University. Marsalis enrolled in the graduate program at Loyola University and graduated with a Master’s of Music Education.

Marsalis’ teaching career flowered at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). Many of his former students are professional musicians locally as well as internationally. Three of his six sonsBranford, Wynton, and Delfeayoas well as trumpeter Terence Blanchard, saxophonist Donald Harrison and pianist Hannry Connick, Jr. have since attained worldwide acclaim with recording contracts on major labels. Youngest son Jason has emerged as an important drummer on the local and national music scene. He is both a bandleader and frequently holds chair in the Marcus Roberts ensembles.

Marsalis has made numerous appearances on television’s Today Show, the Tonight Show, with both Carson and Leno, and on the Arsenio Hall Show.

The winner of several awards, Marsalis and New Orleans singer/actress Joanne Creighton (AKA Lady BJ) shared honors at the 1984 Ace Awards for the best single music program on cable television. In 1986 Marsalis accepted a position at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA) as Coordinator of Jazz Studies. Three years later he would return to New Orleans to occupy a chair endowed by the Coca Cola Company and become Director of the Jazz Studies Division at the University of New Orleans.

In 1989 Marsalis was honored by Dillard University, the site of his undergraduate studies, with an honorary Doctorate of Music. Marsalis continues to occupy the Coca Cola Jazz Chair as Director of the Jazz Studies Division at the University of New Orleans.

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Ellis Marsalis Duke in Blue

Columbia 1999 Time: 59 Rating: * * * *

Musicians: Ellis Marsalis (solo piano)

Selections

The Moochie

Prelude to a Kiss

Squatty Roo

Sophisticated Lady

Just Squeeze Me

Mood Indigo

Caravan