Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
Starting his music career in the late 1940s, he rose to new levels of attention as the patriarch of a musical family, winning the 2011 NEA Jazz Masters Award along with his sons Branford, Delfeayo, Jason, and Wynton. A jazz pianist and great teacher, he encouraged his students to learn from history while also making musical discoveries on their own. Marsalis was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2018, and the Ellis Marsalis Center For Musicians’ Village in New Orleans is named in his honor. He was born in November 1934 in New Orleans, Louisiana and died after a battle with coronavirus on April 1 in his hometown. He was 85 Years old.
