Basic Facts
Born: October 18, 1961, New Orleans, Louisiana
Type of Performer: Trumpeter, composer, bandleader
Genre: Jazz
Awards:
- Nine GRAMMYs, including Best Classical Soloist with an Orchestra, and the only person to win GRAMMYs in five consecutive years
- First jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize, 1997
- National Medal of the Arts, 2005
- National Humanities Medal, 2015
- Honorary degrees conferred at Columbia, Harvard, Howard, Princeton, and Yale
- American Academy of Achievement inductee
- Appointed UN Messenger of Peace, 2001
About Wynton Marsalis
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Wynton Marsalis got his start in church at the Fairview Baptist Church. He showed a natural aptitude for music and at age 14 he started playing with the New Orleans Philharmonic. During high school, he performed with the New Orleans Symphony Brass Quintet, New Orleans Community Concert Band, and the New Orleans Youth Orchestra, among others. At age 17, he became the youngest musician ever admitted to Tanglewood's prestigious Berkshire Music Center. He moved to New York City to attend Juilliard in 1979, and he shortly thereafter landed his first record contract with Columbia Records. He assembled his own band in 1981 and began touring.
In addition to his talents in jazz music, Marsalis is also an accomplished classical trumpet player. He recorded the Haydn, Hummel, and Leopold Mozart trumpet concertos at age 20 and won a GRAMMY for that album. (That same year, he also won a GRAMMY for his jazz album "THINK OF ONE...", making him the only artist to win both classical and jazz GRAMMYs in a single year). He has gone on to record ten other albums and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Cleveland Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and more.
Marsalis is a prolific composer in both jazz and classical genres. He has composed in a variety of jazz styles, from New Orleans roots to bebop to modern jazz. His classical compositions include a violin concerto (composed for virtuoso Nicola Benedetti) and four symphonies that introduce modern rhythms to the classical sound. His oratorio "Blood On The Fields" became the first ever jazz composition to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1997.
Perhaps one of Marsalis's most famous and lasting accomplishments was the foundation of the Jazz At Lincoln Center program in 1987. By 1996, it was so successful that it was installed permanently as a constituent of the Lincoln Center, putting it on par with the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera. In October 2004, he opened the world's first institution for jazz, Frederick P. Rose Hall. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra tours nationally and internationally and the program is widely recognized as a top-tier destination for jazz music.
Listen
"Autumn Leaves," Wynton Marsalis and Sarah Vaughn
Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra plays Blue Note, exploring the life and music of Dave Brubeck, 2014
Wynton Marsalis gives the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy with the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2009
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