Wynton Marsalis Biography

Background

Wynton Marsalis was born in New Orleans in 1961. He comes from a family of talented musicians. His dad is a respected musician, composer, and educator. The two collaborated on Joe Cool's Blues. His brother, Branford, is an accomplished tenor saxophonist. Wynton was given his first trumpet when he was six. He took a couple of lessons from then until when he was 12. It was at this point when he decided he wanted to improve, and began taking lessons regularly. In high school, he played for the New Orleans Civic Orchestra and participated in Tanglewood's Berkshire Music Center's summer program. At the age of 18 he enrolled in the Julliard School for Music. Wynton gained his first real experience by touring with Art Blakey in 1980 and then Herbie Hancock in 1981.

Accomplishments

Though a mere 36 years old, Wynton Marsalis has built quite a resume for himself. He is considered one of the most popular jazz musicians and composers of his generation. He has been a Grammy winner eight times, awarded in both the jazz and classical genres. He was the youngest musician in the history of the awards to win the jazz soloist performance award for three consecutive years and the first to win Grammy's for both jazz and classical recordings. He has performed with Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Sarah Vaughn, and many other legends of jazz. He has appeared as a soloist with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras as well. Besides being a talented musician, Marsalis serves as the co-founder and artistic director of Jazz at the Lincoln Center. Wynton devotes a lot of time and energy promoting and educating children about jazz.

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