Known For
Sound
Born
Oct 18, 1961
Place of Birth
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Credits
70 titles
Wynton Marsalis
Biography
Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards, and his oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Marsalis is the only musician to have won a Grammy Award in both jazz and classical categories in the same year. Marsalis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 18, 1961, and grew up in the suburb of Kenner. He is the second of six sons born to Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis and Ellis Marsalis Jr., a pianist and music teacher. He was named after jazz pianist Wynton Kelly. Branford Marsalis is his older brother and Jason Marsalis and Delfeayo Marsalis are younger. All three are jazz musicians. While sitting at a table with trumpeters Al Hirt, Miles Davis, and Clark Terry, his father jokingly suggested that he might as well get Wynton a trumpet, too. Hirt volunteered to give him one, so at the age of six Marsalis received his first trumpet. Although he owned a trumpet when he was six, he did not practice much until he was 12. He attended Benjamin Franklin High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. He studied classical music at school and jazz at home with his father. He played in funk bands and a marching band led by Danny Barker. He performed on trumpet publicly as the only black musician in the New Orleans Civic Orchestra. After winning a music contest at fourteen, he performed Joseph Haydn's trumpet concerto with the New Orleans Philharmonic. Two years later he performed Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major by Bach. At seventeen, he was one of the youngest musicians admitted to Tanglewood Music Center. Marsalis applied to only two music colleges, the Juilliard School and Northwestern University. He was accepted to both schools and chose to attend the former. In 1979, he moved to New York City to attend the Juilliard School for a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance, leaving in 1981 without earning a degree. He intended to pursue a career in classical music. In 1980, he toured Europe as a member of the Art Blakey band, becoming a member of The Jazz Messengers and remaining with Blakey until 1982. He changed his mind about his career and turned to jazz. He has said that years of playing with Blakey influenced his decision. He recorded for the first time with Blakey and one year later he went on tour with Herbie Hancock. After signing a contract with Columbia, he recorded his first solo album. In 1982, he established a quintet with his brother Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Charnett Moffett, and Jeff "Tain" Watts. When Branford and Kenny Kirkland left three years later to record and tour with Sting, Marsalis formed a quartet, this time with Marcus Roberts on piano, Robert Hurst on double bass, and Watts on drums. After a while, the band expanded to include Wessell Anderson, Wycliffe Gordon, Eric Reed, Herlin Riley, Reginald Veal, and Todd Williams. ... Source: Article "Wynton Marsalis" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Known For
Filmography
In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon
Self
Jazz 100
self
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
Self
Hargrove
Self
Up From the Streets - New Orleans: The City of Music
Self - musician
In a Different Key
Original Music Composer
A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration
Self
A World Without Beethoven?
Self
Find Your Groove
Self
Topowa! Never Give Up
Self
Motherless Brooklyn
Musician
Bolden
Original Music Composer
Wynton Marsalis Quintet: Jazz in Marciac
Self - Trumpet
The Great American Read
Self
Chasing Trane
Self - Musician
Tony Bennett Celebrates 90
Self
Jackie Robinson
Original Music Composer
Song of Lahore
Self
Brownie Speaks
Self
Concerto Ellington-Marsalis
Music
Sarah's Music: Contemporary Classical
Self
VA - Jazz Intermezzo Vol.1
Self (archive footage)
Man in the Glass: The Dale Brown Story
Music
Prohibition
Original Music Composer
Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton Play the Blues - Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center
Self
On the Shoulders of Giants
Masterclass
Self
Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis Play the Music of Ray Charles
Self - Trumpet and Vocals
Let Freedom Swing: Conversations on Jazz and Democracy
Self
Tootie's Last Suit
Self
Willie Nelson / Wynton Marsalis - Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC
Musicien
Wynton Marsallis and JALC Orchestra - Congo Square
Self
Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
Self - Interviewee / Self - Musician
Live from Abbey Road: Best of Season 1
Self
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
Self
The N Word
Self
Iconoclasts
Self
Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast
Self
Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy?
Campbell (voice)
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Original Music Composer
Real Time with Bill Maher
Self
The Marsalis Family: A Jazz Celebration
Self - trumpet
Wynton Marsalis - Blues & Swing
Self
It's Black Entertainment
Self
Jazz
Self
Soul Food
Self
Trumpet Kings
Self (archive footage)
The Worlds of Harry Connick Jr.
Self
Sugar Ray Robinson: The Bright Lights and Dark Shadows of a Champion
Original Music Composer
Sessions at West 54th Vol.1
Self (archive footage)