Wynton Marsalis, a renowned jazz artist, is widely recognized as the pre-eminent musician of our time. Not only is he a talented performer on the trumpet, but he is also a respected music educator and a passionate promoter of the history and culture of jazz. Marsalis is an accomplished artist in performing classical music, and he is a leader in civic matters.
Born into a musical family in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, Marsalis's father was a pianist and music teacher. His brothers, Branford Marsalis on saxophone, Delfeayo Marsalis on trombone, and Jason Marsalis on drums, are also notable musicians. Wynton was a precocious student of music in his youth and eventually attended the Juilliard School. He later joined the band of the renowned jazz artist Art Blakey.
Marsalis spent ten years touring continuously with his band, virtually single-handedly reviving the public's interest in jazz, which had become a lost art form to many. In addition to performing, Marsalis focuses strongly on education by giving lectures and workshops to students on musicianship.
Wynton Marsalis created the PBS TV series Marsalis on Music (1995) and the National Public Radio 26-week series "Making the Music" in the same year. He played a major role in developing Ken Burns's TV mini-series Jazz (2001),which helped bring jazz forward in the public's mind.
Marsalis has been criticized by some for discounting the value of jazz forms that have emerged after 1965. However, he has countered by stating that attempts at a musical fusion of jazz with other pop forms yield a mixture of sounds that are simply not true jazz.
Wynton Marsalis has made major efforts to help revive and restore his home city of New Orleans following the disaster of hurricane Katrina, including organizing the benefit concert "Higher Ground" at Lincoln Center in New York City. Marsalis has promoted human rights for the people of Burma and their imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has declared Marsalis to be a U.N. Messenger of Peace.
Marsalis has won numerous awards, including nine Grammys, two of them for his recordings of classical works for trumpet by Haydn, Mozart, and Handel. He is the first jazz artist to win a Pulitzer Prize, given for composing his oratorio "Blood on the Fields". Wynton Marsalis now serves as the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall in New York City.
