Wynton Marsalis | The Renaissance Man of Modern Jazz

New Orleans born Wynton Marsalis displayed extraordinary musical talent from a very early age. He was raised in a musical family – his father was a musician and his older brother Branford was also a jazz musician. He received his first trumpet at the age of six and has flourished as a prolific musician ever since. By the age of eight, Marsalis was a mainstay in a local church band and by the age of 14, began playing with the New Orleans Philharmonic. Throughout high school, music continued to play a crucial role in Marsalis’ life and at the age of 17 he became the youngest musician ever to be accepted into Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Tanglewood program was followed by a move to New York City, where Marsalis attended the famous Juilliard School and joined master drummer Art Blakey and his band, the Jazz Messengers. In the years to follow, Marsalis played with numerous Jazz legends and talented contemporaries. In 1981, he assembled his own band with which he performed over 120 concerts each year over 15 consecutive years. In 1982 he released his first studio album under Columbia Records. This self-titled jazz record that was met with rave reviews and Marsalis went on to win multiple Grammy Awards. He is now well known for his work in both the jazz and classical genres. Marsalis has been embracing and actively promoting the older generation of overlooked jazz musicians for years. He also inspired and attracted a new generation of fine young jazz talents to join the music scene. In 1987, Marsalis founded ‘Jazz at Lincoln Center’, a series developed to broaden people’s exposure to jazz music. His role within the series increased annually, with Marsalis eventually leading the program’s 15-piece big band in their final performance. Marsalis also composes his own music, writing short and extended pieces that reflect his interest in early jazz styles. Marsalis’ passion for Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and others drove him to pursue a career in the classical world. He has recorded numerous classical albums and played with some of the biggest orchestras across the world. In 1995, he composed his first major work: a string quartet entitled At the Octoroon Balls which established him as a classical composer. Later compositions included the large-scale work Blood on the Fields, which won Marsalis the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Music.