10 Interesting Facts about Wynton Marsalis

If you love to listen to jazz, one of these following facts about Wynton Marsalis will probably broaden open up your knowledge about him. Wynton Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, teacher, music educator and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, United States. He has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences. He has been awarded nine Grammys in both genres, and a jazz recording of his was the first of its kind to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. To get to know more about him, here are some other facts about Wynton Marsalis you may like.

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 1: Family of Musicians

Marsalis is the son of jazz musician Ellis Marsalis, Jr., who was a pianist, grandson of Ellis Marsalis, Sr., and brother of Branford who is saxophonist, Delfeayo who is trombonist, Mboya and Jason who are drummers.

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 2: School

Wynton Marsalis graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School with a 3.98 GPA. At age 17, he was the youngest musician admitted to Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center, where he won the school’s Harvey Shapiro Award for outstanding brass student. He moved to New York City to attend Juilliard in 1979, and picked up gigs around town.

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 3: Awards

Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards. In 1983 and 1984, he became the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards for both jazz and classical records. He is one of only two artists to win Grammy Awards for five consecutive years of musical contributions.

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 4: Recordings

Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter known for his brilliant technique and championing traditional jazz forms. His recordings include Soul Gestures in Southern Blue (1991) and Hot House Flowers (1984).

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 5: Honorary Degrees

Honorary degrees Marsalis has received include those conferred by New York University, Columbia, Harvard, Howard, the State University of New York, Princeton, University of Vermont and Yale. He was honored with the Louis Armstrong Memorial Medal and the Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 6: Most Influential People

Time Magazine’s list of promising Americans under the age 40 selected Marsalis in 1995, and in 1996, Time celebrated Marsalis as one of America’s 25 most influential people. In November 2005, Marsalis received the National Medal of Arts.

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 7: Blood On the Fields

In 1997, Marsalis became the first jazz musician ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his epic oratorio, Blood On the Fields. 

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 8: Tours

Marsalis, with his father and brothers, were group recipients of the 2011 NEA Jazz Masters Award. He also has toured 30 countries on every continent except Antarctica, and nearly five million copies of his recordings have been sold worldwide.

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 9: Autobiography

In his autobiography, Miles Davis who Marsalis said had left jazz and “went into rock” hedged his praise of Marsalis by suggesting that he was unoriginal. He also found him too competitive, saying “Wynton thinks playing music is about blowing people up on stage.”

Facts about Wynton Marsalis 10: Ineligible Work

Blood on the Fields won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Music. However, Marsalis’s victory was controversial because according to the Pulitzer guidelines, his work was not eligible.

Those who love to listen to jazz may have considered those following facts about Wynton Marsalis really useful. Hope you would find those Wynton Marsalis facts really interesting.