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Ellis Marsalis discusses jazz at IUP
The topic for two music classes today at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is "The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington." The visiting instructor is Marsalis, a modern jazz pianist and music educator and the father of four respected musicians.
Ellington, the celebrated writer and performer of hundreds of musical compositions before his death in 1974, didn't have any peers in the 20th century and has yet to have one in the 21st, Marsalis said in a telephone interview. Marsalis said the genius of Ellington still is in the process of unfolding.
"Duke was able to create and develop his own compositional techniques, so he didn't subject himself to imitating European composers," Marsalis, 70, said.
Marsalis' visit is the result of a longtime friendship with Dr. Lorraine Wilson, the chairwoman of the IUP music department. Wilson befriended Marsalis' younger sister, Yvette, during piano lessons as a child and counts Marsalis' wife, Dolores, as one of her dearest friends.
Invited to Indiana for Thanksgiving, Marsalis agreed to stay in town to give lectures and performances today related to Ellington and the history and culture of the New Orleans music scene.
"This was planned as a friendly, personal visit, but how can you have such a renowned artist and composer and internationally known expert on the culture in New Orleans in town and not provide the opportunity for students to speak to him?" Wilson said.
Wilson, a former supervisor of music for the New Orleans public schools, also helped to re-create the New Orleans aura in September when the music department sponsored a "jazz funeral" for Cogswell Hall. The building, erected in 1959, is undergoing an $8.8 million renovation, with music classes and performances being scattered around the campus until next fall.
Marsalis' roots are in New Orleans, where he graduated from Dillard University with a degree in music education and performed in several clubs before becoming an adjunct professor at Xavier University. He also has taught at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
While Marsalis has collaborated on several albums and performances with sons Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason, he said the family's eight-city tour last year was a wonderful experience that is hard to put into words. Being a bit of an "all-star band," Marsalis said he and his sons were conscious of wanting to justify the show's hype for the ticket-buyers.
"To me, all-star bands can be a catastrophe, but, for me, it was a lot of fun," he said.
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