The Marsalis Family Set To Perform Live

By I Dec. 27, 2002

New Orleans’ most celebrated jazz family, led by the patriarch, Ellis Marsalis, will tour for the first time together beginning Feb. 23, 2003. The concerts with Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo, Jason and Ellis will take place in U.S. and Canadian performing art centers, and are in support of the February 4 album, The Marsalis Family: A Jazz Celebration (Marsalis Music), a PBS special to premiere February 20 and Spring DVD release.

All four multimedia events were inspired by and document an historic August 2001 New Orleans concert with the family, an occasion that marked Ellis’ retirement from teaching duties at the University of New Orleans, and the school’s establishment of a chair in his name. Before a packed house in the Kiefer UNO
Lakefront Arena, the Marsalis family along with bassist Roland Guerin and a special guest appearance by Harry Connick Jr., were so inspired by each other’s presence that, as Delfeayo puts it, the performance “reflected our family collectively and individually.”

Branford sums up the results by noting that, “Everybody came to play the music as well as they possibly could play it.” The spirited results, by turns fiercely swinging and deeply lyrical, confirm that the company and the occasion elevated each family member to new levels of eloquence.

The tour dates are as follows:

Feb. 23: Ottawa, ONT; National Arts Centre
Feb. 24: Toronto; Massey Hall
Feb. 25: Montreal; Wilfrid Pelletier Hall
Feb. 27: Schenectady, N.Y.; Proctor’s
Feb. 28: Syracuse, N.Y.; Landmark Theatre
March 1: Newark, N.J.; NJPAC
March 2: Philadelphia; Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center
March 3: Boston; Symphony Hall