Ellis Marsalis’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

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 a musical family, with sons Branford and Wynton rising to international acclaim.

Life and career

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Marsalis was the son of Florence (née Robertson) and Ellis Marsalis Sr., a businessman and social activist. Marsalis and his wife Delores Ferdinand had six sons: Branford, Wynton, Ellis III (1964), Delfeayo, Mboya (1971), and Jason. Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason also became jazz musicians. Ellis III is a poet, photographer, and network engineer.

Marsalis played saxophone during high school but switched to piano while studying classical music at Dillard University, graduating in 1955. He later attended graduate school at Loyola University New Orleans. In the 1950s and 1960s he worked with Ed Blackwell, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderley, and Al Hirt. During the 1970s, he taught at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. His students have included Terence Blanchard, Harry Connick Jr., Donald Harrison, Kent Jordan, Marlon Jordan, and Nicholas Payton.

Though he recorded almost 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, he shunned the spotlight to focus on teaching. Marsalis’s didactic approach, combined with an interest in philosophy, encouraged his students to make discoveries in music on their own, through experiment and very careful listening.

As a leading educator at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the University of New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana, Ellis influenced the careers of countless musicians, as well as his four musician sons: Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason. Marsalis retired from UNO in 2001. In May 2007, Marsalis received an honorary doctorate from Tulane University for his contributions to jazz and musical education.

Marsalis was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music at Musicians’ Village in New Orleans is named in his honor. In 2010, The Marsalis Family released a live album titled Music Redeems which was recorded at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC as part of the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. All proceeds from the sale of the album go directly to the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.

Marsalis and his sons were group recipients of the 2011 NEA Jazz Masters Award.

Marsalis was a Brother of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., initiated in 1953 at Epsilon Alpha Chapter, Dillard University.

Marsalis was a Brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity, initiated into Delta Epsilon Chapter (University of Louisiana-Lafayette) in 1965. In 2015, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia announced that Marsalis has been named Sinfonia’s 24th Man of Music, the highest honor given by the fraternity to a member, for advancing the cause of music in America through performance, composition or any other musical activity.

On April 1, 2020, Marsalis died at the age of 85 after being hospitalized with COVID-19.

Discography

As leader

• 1985 Syndrome
• 1985 Homecoming with Eddie Harris (Spindletop)
• 1986 Piano in E
• 1989 A Night at Snug Harbor, New Orleans (Somethin’ Else)
• 1990 Ellis Marsalis Trio (Blue Note)
• 1991 Jazzy Wonderland (Columbia)
• 1991 Heart of Gold (Columbia)
• 1993 Whistle Stop (Columbia)
• 1994 Joe Cool’s Blues with Wynton Marsalis (Columbia)
• 1996 Loved Ones with Branford Marsalis (Columbia)
• 1998 Twelve’s It (Sony)
• 1999 Duke in Blue (Sony)
• 2000 Afternoon Session (Music in the Vines/Sonoma Jazz)
• 2005 Ruminations in New York
• 2008 An Open Letter to Thelonious (Elm)
• 2011 A New Orleans Christmas Carol (Elm)
• 2012 Pure Pleasure for the Piano with Makoto Ozone (ECM)
• 2013 On the First Occasion (Elm)
• 2017 Live at Jazzfest 2017
• 2018 The Ellis Marsalis Quintet Plays the Music of Ellis Marsalis

As sideman or guest

With American Jazz Quintet

• 1987 From Bad to Badder
• 1996 In the Beginning

With Branford Marsalis

• 1986 Royal Garden Blues
• 2003 Romare Bearden Revealed

With Delfeayo Marsalis

• 1997 Musashi
• 2014 The Last Southern Gentlemen

With Wynton Marsalis

• 1981 Wynton Marsalis
• 1982 Fathers and Sons
• 1986 J Mood
• 1990 Standard Time, Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance

With Marsalis Family

• 2002 Marsalis Family: A Jazz Celebration
• 2010 Music Redeems

With Irvin Mayfield

• 1998 Irvin Mayfield
• 2001 How Passion Falls
• 2008 Love Songs, Ballads, and Standards
• 2011 A Love Letter to New Orleans

With Kermit Ruffins

• 1992 World on a String
• 1996 Hold on Tight

With Dave Young

• 1995 Two by Two
• 1996 Two by Two Vol. 2
• 1996 Side by Side Vol. 3

With others

• 1958 Boogie Live …1958, Ed Blackwell
• 1962 In the Bag, Nat Adderley
• 1984 Friends, Steve Masakowski
• 1987 King Midas & the Golden Touch, Michael Caine
• 1989 Have You Heard?, Rich Matteson
• 1990 Return to the Wide Open Spaces, David “Fathead” Newman with Cornell Dupree
• 1990 Solos (1940), Art Tatum
• 1991 As Serenity Approaches, Marcus Roberts
• 1992 25, Harry Connick Jr.
• 1996 In the Sweet Bye and Bye, Preservation Hall Jazz Band
• 1996 Next Generation, Harold Battiste
• 1996 Suite Memories, Gerald Wilson
• 1996 Ways of Warmdaddy, Wessell Anderson
• 2006 Marsalis Music Honors Series: Jimmy Cobb, Jimmy Cobb
• 2006 The Sonet Blues Story: 1977, Snooks Eaglin
• 2008 Jazz for Peanuts, David Benoit
• 2008 Simply Grand, Irma Thomas
• 2009 Say It Plain, Scotty Barnhart
• 2015 A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas!, Count Basie Orchestra