Wynton Marsalis

Wynton was born 18 October 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. As a native of New Orleans he has assimilated much of the city’s musical heritage into his style, emphasizing the trumpet playing of Lois Armstrong as well as the technique of his father Ellis (also a native of New Orleans). Wynton grew up in a very musical family. In addition to his father being an acclaimed jazz pianist he also has three siblings that are involved in music: Branford (saxophonist), Delfeayo (trombonist), and Jason (drummer). Throughout his adolescence he participated in various musical mediums such as church, jazz, and funk bands as well as various symphonies and orchestras.

Marsalis attended Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center and held the reputation as being the youngest student to be admitted into the school. On top of that he was also presented the Harvey Shapiro Award for his outstanding work as a brass instrumentalist.

In 1979 he was accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School of Music and shortly afterwards was awarded a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. His success only continued to blossom and just a brief time later he became protege to trumpet mastermind Woody Shaw. This was just one of the many legendary jazz figures with whom Marsalis worked. Others included Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, and Herbie Hancock.

Marsalis made his first recordings as a member of the Art Blakey Big Band. In 1981 he struck up a recording contract with Columbia and issued his 1st album as a group leader. A year later he developed a quintet featuring his brother Branford on sax. This line up eventually disintegrated in 1985 due to friction between the brothers. Branford left to to become a touring member of Sting’s band and Wynton continued cranking out multiple award winning classical and jazz albums.

The proceeding group Marsalis put together was an alternating septet consisting of Marcus Roberts (piano), Robert hurst (bass), Watts (drummer), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Wes Anderson (alto), Todd Williams (tenor), Reginald Veal (bass), Herlin Riley (drums), and Eric Reed (piano). This configuration lasted until 1995 and from time to time Marsalis still collaborates with several of these musicians.

By 1997 Marsalis became the first person to win a Pulitzer Prize for a jazz recording. The recording which was endowed with this lofty award was his 3 CD release “Blood on the Fields”. After this release Marsalis’ prestige as a jazz trumpeter continuously became ingrained in the public’s mind, despite many protests (ex. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and influential pianist Keith Jarrett).

Marsalis put out his first Blue Note recording, “The Magic Hour” in 2004 and after a string of other album releases issued his 2nd offering for Blue Note “From the Plantation to the Penitentiary” in 2007. A year later he unexpectedly released the joint effort “Two Men with the Blues” with country star, Willie Nelson. Marsalis has also teamed up with artists such as Norah Jones and Eric Clapton among countless others.