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DVD version of “Marsalis family” in stores now
The Marsalis Family recorded together for the first time ever, at University of New Orleans on August 2001. Featuring Ellis on piano, and his sons Branford (saxophones), Delfeayo (trombone), Jason (drums) and Wynton (trumpet). Plus bassist Roland Guerin, and a special guest appearance by Harry Connick Jr.
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Working Together, Taking Different Roads
It’s true: the Marsalises have been overexposed to the ends of the earth. One might have looked at the enormous profile on Wynton Marsalis in the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly, noticed the recent PBS special about the family, then seen a full-family concert coming up and rightly wondered why nobody else in jazz was apparently worth paying attention to.
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The Marsalis Family band hits the road
Inspired by a New Orleans concert in August 2001 celebrating patriarch Ellis Marsalis’ retirement from teaching at the University of New Orleans, a tour, a PBS special, a recording and a DVD are now in the works. The Marsalis family tour (check dates), kicks off on February 23.
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It features Ellis Marsalis on piano, with sons Branford on saxophones, Wynton on trumpet, Delfeayo on trombone and Jason on drums, and the only non-family member, Reginald Veal on bass. -
The Marsalis Family record together
The Marsalis Family recorded together for the first time ever, at University of New Orleans on August 2001. Featuring Ellis on piano, and his sons Branford (saxophones), Delfeayo (trombone), Jason (drums) and Wynton (trumpet). Plus bassist Roland Guerin, and a special guest appearance by Harry Connick Jr.
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(Most of) The Marsalis Family in Concert
There’s no generation gap in the musical taste of the Marsalis family of New Orleans. From the 55-year-old patriarch and pianist, Ellis Marsalis, down to the 13-year-old drummer Jason, the hard-bop of the late 1950’s and 60’s is the pinnacle of jazz, and they have led a revival of the style among young musicians. Keep reading »
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Modern New Orleans
At the Public Theater’s New Orleans-New York jazz concerts on Friday and Saturday, the wind players strolled onto the stage to begin solos, offstage to end them. It was a subtle but direct reminder of the connection between this sextet and the marches and street parades that lend so much New Orleans music its syncopated strut - a tradition that came through the modern harmonies of the sextet’s compositions. Keep reading »
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A Modern Kind of New Orleans Jazz In Town
JAZZ as we know it began in New Orleans. Black musicians may have been improvising a jazzlike music in other cities and towns in the early years of this century, but Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and the other innovators who stamped their identities on the new music and breathed life into it were all New Orleans men. Keep reading »
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Jazz Families Bridge The Generation Gap
During the early decades of jazz it wasn’t at all unusual to find fathers and sons playing together in the same bands and indulging in familial give-and-take - mature musicianship and on-the-job know-how versus youthful innovation and first-time exuberance. In the black neighborhoods of New Orleans and the other cities where jazz flourished early, only the holier-than-thou looked down on music as a profession. It was an honorable route out of the black ghetto, in many cases the only route. Keep reading »