Biography
Wynton Marsalis is a living music legend. Born on October 18, 1961 in New Orleans. The son of Ellis Marsalis and Delores Marsalis. Wynton was the second out of six sons. His father was a jazz pianist. Wynton showed a gift for music at a young age. Wynton picked up a trumpet at the age of six. He performed traditional New Orleans music with Fairview Baptist Church led by Danny Barker. By the age of fourteen he had performed with many of the professional’s symphonies and Quintets in New Orleans. He graduated from Benjamin Franklin High school with a 3.98 GPA. He also was accepted in Tangle wood’s Berkshire Music Center. There he won Harvey Shapiro Award for outstanding brass student. He then moved to New York City to attend Juilliard in 1979; however, after a short period of time Wynton dropped out. Soon down the road he would be department head over
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This album went on to win multiple Grammy Awards. Wynton won nine Grammys in total of his career. He’s won Grammy’s for Classical and Jazz for consecutive years. With this Wynton made history for jazz and classical. In 1987 he founded Jazz at Lincoln Center. He developed a series that focus on broadenings people’s exposure to jazz music. He also to a interest in Music composition. He would write short and extended pieces that reflected his interest in early jazz He made his mark as a classical composer with his first major work. It was a string quartet entitles.” At the Octoroon Balls”. He then later composed a larger scale work. “Blood on the fields”. Which won him 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Music. This marked the first time a jazz music had ever received this honor. Marsalis also received many recognition for his community outreach and musicianship. He’s a recipient of many honorary degrees from NYU, Columbia, Harvard, Howard etc. In 2005 he was awarded The National Medal of Arts. Time magazine’s list of promising Americans under the age of