Marsalis, Wynton (1961-…), an American trumpeter and composer, has won acclaim both as a jazz and a classical musician. Since the early 1980’s, Marsalis has been one of the most influential figures in jazz. His style is based on a knowledge of jazz tradition and mastery of technique. An articulate speaker, Marsalis has visited schools to promote interest in jazz among young people. In 1991, he became artistic director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center program in New York City. Marsalis became the first jazz composer to win a Pulitzer Prize in music, receiving the 1997 award for his oratorio Blood on the Fields (1996). He also composed the orchestral and choral pieces All Rise (1999) and Abyssinian 200: A Celebration (2008), and several scores for ballets.
Marsalis was born on Oct. 18, 1961, in New Orleans. He studied jazz and classical music with a number of teachers, including his father, Ellis Marsalis, a respected pianist. At the age of 14, he performed the Trumpet Concerto by Joseph Haydn with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. Marsalis made his first commercial recordings in 1980 as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. In 1982, he led a quintet with his brother, saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Since then, Marsalis has performed with his own small groups and with jazz and classical orchestras. Marsalis discussed his views on jazz in To a Young Musician: Letters from the Road (2004), written with Selwyn Seyfu Hinds. He also wrote two children’s books about jazz, Jazz A B Z (2005) and Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! (2012).
