Delfeayo Marsalis


Delfeayo Marsalis is an American jazz trombonist, record producer and educator.

Life and career

Marsalis was born in New Orleans, the son of Dolores and Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr., a pianist and music professor. He is also the grandson of Ellis Marsalis, Sr., and the brother of Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, and Jason Marsalis. Delfeayo also has two brothers who are not musicians: Ellis Marsalis III is a poet, photographer and computer networking specialist based in Baltimore, and Mboya Kenyatta is autistic and was the primary inspiration for Delfeayo's founding of the New Orleans-based Uptown Music Theatre. Formed in 2000, UMT has trained over 300 youth and staged eight original musicals, all of which are based upon the mission of "community unity".
Delfeayo has recorded 8 of his own albums and is known for his work as a producer of acoustic jazz recordings. Along with Tonight Show engineer Patrick Smith, Delfeayo coined a phrase that was primarily responsible for the shift in many jazz recordings from rock and roll production to the resurgence of acoustic recording. "To obtain more wood sound from the bass, this album recorded without usage of the dreaded bass direct" first appeared on brother Branford's Renaissance, and became the single sentence to define the recorded quality of many acoustic jazz recordings since the late 1980s. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, and in 2004 received an MA in jazz performance from the University of Louisville.
Marsalis, with his father and brothers, are group recipients of the 2011 NEA Jazz Masters Award.

Discography

As leader

With Branford Marsalis
With others