Ellis Marsalis Jr. shared a name with his father, a prominent hotelier and civil rights activist in New Orleans, but it was the younger Ellis who would forever attach the Marsalises to the very core of jazz music. Beginning as a clarinetist while he was still in elementary school, Marsalis soon homed in on what would be his lifelong passion with a degree in music education from Dillard University.
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis had loving words to describe his relationship with his father, New Orleans jazz patriarch Ellis Marsalis Jr, who died from complications from coronavirus on April 1, according to his son. Marsalis Jr., 85, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday (March 28).
"My dad was a giant of a musician and teacher, but an even greater father," Marsalis said. "He poured everything he had into making us the best of what we could be."
