Ellis Marsalis Jr.

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, Louisiana, 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. 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.

Awards

Marsalis was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

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.

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. Municipal pandemic safety measures precluded a traditional jazz funeral procession. The short documentary film titled Death Is Our Business by Frontline briefly covered the situation when investigating the pandemic's effects on the New Orleans funeral industry.

Personal life

Marsalis and his wife, Dolores, were Catholic 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/co-leader

1985: Syndrome (ELM, 1985)
1985: Homecoming with Eddie Harris (Spindletop, 1985)
1986: Piano in E (Rounder, 1991)
1989: A Night at Snug Harbor, New Orleans (Somethin' Else, 1990)
1990: Ellis Marsalis Trio (Blue Note, 1991)
1991: Heart of Gold (Columbia, 1992)
1993: Whistle Stop (Columbia, 1994)
1994: Joe Cool's Blues with Wynton Marsalis (Columbia, 1995)
1998?: Twelve's It (Columbia, 1998)
1998: On the First Occasion (ELM, 2013)
1999: Duke in Blue (Columbia, 1999)
2000: Afternoon Session (Music in the Vines, 2001)
2005?: Ruminations in New York (ESP Disk, 2005)
2007: An Open Letter to Thelonious (ELM, 2008)
2011?: A New Orleans Christmas Carol (ELM, 2011)
2012: Pure Pleasure for the Piano with Makoto Ozone (Verve, 2012)
2017: Live at Jazzfest 2017 (Munck Music, 2017)
2017?: The Ellis Marsalis Quintet Plays the Music of Ellis Marsalis (ELM, 2017)

As sideman or guest

With American Jazz Quintet

1987 From Bad to Badder
2010 Music Redeems
1984 Friends, Steve Masakowski

References

External links

NPR's Jazz Profiles: Ellis Marsalis
Ellis Marsalis Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (March 21, 2015)