The patriarch of a large family of jazz musicians, along with his sons Wynton,
Branford, Delfeayo and Jason, pianist Ellis Marsalis had to wait for their
consecration before being recognized for his talent. Born in New Orleans,
Louisiana, on November 14, 1934, Ellis Louis Marsalis Jr. began working with Ed
Blackwell, brothers Julian Cannonball and Nat Adderley (1962) and Al Hirt before
teaching at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in the 1970s, where his
students included Terence Blanchard, Harry Connick Jr. and Nicholas Payton. In
1985, he recorded the first of a long ser...