Delfeayo Marsalis Comes To Jazz Club

Another celebrated Marsalis brother steps into the spotlight in Detroit this January when trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis performs at Jazz Club @ The Max with his sextet. The third of the four famous Marsalis brothers, and son of Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis is an award-winning record producer, a classically trained musician, a music composer and a dedicated music educator.

Along with late trombone master J.J. Johnson, several music reviewers have labeled Marsalis one of the freshest modern voices on the instrument. The Delfeayo Marsalis Sextet includes David Pulphus on bass, Jeff Fajardo on drums, Mark Shim on tenor saxophone, Rick Gordon on percussion and Anthony Wonsey on piano. They perform at Jazz Club @ The Max on Friday, January 12 at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. in The Music Box at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.

Though he has performed with such legendary jazz artists as Art Blakey, Abdullah Ibrahim, Elvin Jones, Slide Hampton and Max Roach, Delfeayo Marsalis began his career behind the scenes, producing his first recording at the age of 17. He then attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, majoring in both performance and audio production. He has since produced more than 75 major-label recordings - several of which have received Grammy Awards and nominations - including works by Harry Connick, Jr., Marcus Roberts, Spike Lee and Ellis, Branford and Wynton Marsalis. His production skills earned him a 3M Visionary Award in 1996 and a cover article for the industry source, Mix magazine, in 1997.

In addition to performing with a spectrum of jazz giants, Marsalis has toured with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, which was filmed as part of the Ken Burns documentary, Jazz. He has released two solo albums to critical acclaim, Pontius Pilate's Decision in 1992 and Musashi in 1997, and is a mainstay on the New Orleans modern jazz scene. As a composer, his scores have set the backdrop for the ABC television mini-series, Moon over Miami; the documentaries Streetcar Mysteries and 112th & Central; an off-Broadway production titled Girl Gone; and the New Orleans Ballet presentations of Tennessee Williams' Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie.

For the last several years, Marsalis has been involved with educating youths in various developmental programs. In 1993, his original program D-Blues was commissioned by "Meet the Composer" for the Filmore Arts Center in Washington D.C.; and in 1995, Marsalis lectured in public and parochial schools on behalf of both the Dallas Opera and the Bravo cable network. To further introduce young people to jazz music, he has served as director of the Foundation for Artistic and Musical Excellence summer program in Lawrenceville, N.J. since 1998. After composing the musical Luther for Summerstages Theatre in 1997, Marsalis founded the Uptown Music Theatre (UMT), created specifically to provide 8th to12th grade youths with musical theater training. In three summers, UMT has trained more than 85 students, ages 8 to 18, and staged five original musicals: Kidstown, The Pirate's Conspirate, Jaz and Jazmine Meet the Jazz Band, A New Tale of the Old West and Carol, Carol, Caroling.

By www.detroitsymphony.com