Ellis Marsalis Quartet March 25, 2006

?Renowned as a pianist and mentor to many of this generation?s important jazz players? (USA Today)? including, of course, his celebrated sons?New Orleans legend Ellis Marsalis is also one of the true masters of the modern jazz mainstream and an ever-captivating live performer. ?Cool and self-assured, [his] casualness belies the immensity of his talent,? remarks JazzTimes. Marsalis is ?the very definition of cultured showmanship.?

Marsalis distinguished himself in the early 1950s as one of the only New Orleans musicians of the era not to specialize in the trademark styles of ?Dixieland? and R&B, immersing himself instead in the ever-evolving modern jazz sound. He formed the American Jazz Quintet with fellow modernists and recorded with Cannonball Adderley and brother Nat in the 1950s.

A lifelong educator, Marsalis became the first teacher at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts program in the 1970s and counts Terence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, and Harry Connick, Jr. among a long list of pupils. Proud patriarch of arguably New Orleans? most esteemed musical family, Marsalis has ushered his four sons Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason to the forefront of jazz and inspired them to remarkably creative heights. He first recorded with Branford and Wynton on 1982?s Fathers and Sons (Delfeayo and Jason were too young to record), and convened the full family almost twenty years later on 2001?s The Marsalis Family: A Jazz Celebration. The record was conceived as a tribute to his retirement from the University of New Orleans, but Marsalis has not been one to rest on his laurels for long. He founded his own record label, ELM Records, and has released three albums over the last three years, including 2005?s solo outing Ruminations in New York. Since the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, Marsalis has been leading the development of ?Musicians? Village? in New Orleans with the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity.

? Drew Foxman