# Delfeayo Marsalis says his style of Jazz is what O.C. needs right now: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2022/03/23/delfeayo-marsalis-says-his-style-of-jazz-is-what-o-c-needs-right-now-video-photos/
- Published: 2022-03-23T14:52:36+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, who’s performing with his band at Soka University
on Saturday, is a man on a mission. “What the country and the world need now more
than ever is some good New Orleans music to give everyone a little joy,” he says.“
And that’s just what we’re gonna deliver.”**

His surname guarantees that promise. Marsalis, 56, is part of New Orleans’ most 
famous musical family. His older brother Wynton is one of the world’s most renowned
jazz and classical trumpet players. Siblings Branford and Jason are masters of the
saxophone and percussion, respectively, and their late father, Ellis Marsalis Jr.,
was a celebrated jazz pianist and music educator. The Marsalis name has dominated
American music for more than four decades.

Marsalis and his band, the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, are well-respected practitioners
of traditional jazz, grounded in the distinctive rhythmic, melodic and harmonic 
characteristics of New Orleans style. But he takes good-natured issue with the “
traditionalist” label.

“I don’t consider myself a traditionalist,” he said. “The foundation of the music
that I play is very important, true, but I’d say it’s a combination of traditional
and a more modern funky sound that’s popular today in New Orleans music. I’m also
really trying to engage audiences and (acknowledge) the music of today.”

Marsalis is active as an educator. The Uptown Jazz Orchestra was formed in 2008 
in part to introduce students in the New Orleans area to the music of their city.
Hundreds of talented students have been mentored by Marsalis and his band, and Marsalis
is featuring two of them in his upcoming concert at Soka University: alto saxophonists
An Tran and Donovan Lloyd, both high school seniors.

“They’re both very talented, although they come from different traditions,” Marsalis
said. “An is more of a smooth jazz player, and Donovan is more straight-ahead.”

It wasn’t merely an act of generosity that prompted Marsalis to bring two teenagers
into the band. They’re also there because they’re needed, he said.

“Two of my regular saxophonists weren’t available, so I figured it would be a great
opportunity to introduce the next generation of talent to the professional world.
And I think it’s always better whenever you can have a multi-generational band.”

Although Marsalis acknowledges that many young jazz musicians possess impressive
technical talents and a solid knowledge of jazz styles and the characteristic sounds
of famous artists, he said he sometimes feels that they exist in a kind of artistic
vacuum that’s separated from contemporary culture.

“I’m trying to encourage the younger students to engage with their peers, because
none of their peers listen to jazz,” Marsalis said. “And almost none of the jazz
students listen to the music that their peers listen to.”

Recently, Marsalis asked the students in one of his jazz master classes to name 
any song in the Billboard Top 20. “Almost nobody could. So we started the class 
by listening to ‘Montero’ by Lil Nas X. I wanted them to engage with this kind of
music and absorb it. I find that many young jazz players today are kind of hiding
behind their music and not thinking creatively enough about how to make it interact
with other kinds of music.”⌊Delfeayo Marsalis: 'To say the epicentre of jazz has
moved is ridiculous' - Jazz Journal⌉

**Keeping the Trumpets Away from the Saxes**

Marsalis said there were no rules about what instrument to play when he was growing
up in a family of supremely talented musicians.

“Well, you know, we all chose the instrument that kind of suited our personality.
And my dad was playing piano, and two of my brothers had solo instruments, so it
only made sense to me to play the trombone. For some reason, it really spoke to 
me.”

Marsalis has been described by his colleagues as easygoing, with a good sense of
humor, and it comes out regularly in conversation. Describing the mellowness of 
trombonists, he said, “There’s a reason trombones are in the middle of the big band.
They’re there to keep the trumpets away from the saxophones.”

Although Marsalis avoids the traditionalist label, he lists many old school jazz
greats as his inspiration: trombonists J.J. Johnson, Slide Hampton and Tommy Dorsey,
and other Golden Age stars like Louis Armstrong and Cannonball Adderley. He said
he prefers “musical extroverts,” those who could convey “the joyousness of the music.”

While Marsalis respects the technical prowess of some of the new generation of jazz
stars, he places more value on other elements of musicianship.

“Some of (the younger players), they’ve absorbed the styles, man. But you know, 
the thing is that it doesn’t always resonate with the people. I think it’s more 
important to find your own unique voice. It’s like when you’re watching basketball:
Nobody’s gonna sit there and enjoy watching somebody make 40 or 50 straight free
throws. Our enjoyment of anything involves more than just technique.”

Marsalis is happy to be playing concerts again after two years of waiting for the
gigs to reappear. “New Orleans is a town that’s full of musicians,” he said. “Yes,
it’s been tough, but you know, man, (in) New Orleans, we know how to make it. (My
band) came up with one of the first live streams from down here and it was just 
uplifting, man.

“But what I realized over the last couple of years was how much the musicians need
the music. Not just to make a living, but for their souls. And the same goes for
everyone who loves what we do.”

![](https://i0.wp.com/voiceofoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Delfeayo-Marsalis1-
EDIT.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1)

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