Marsalis Quartet Program -...

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Delfeayo & Ellis Marsalis Quartet

Delfeayo Marsalis, TromboneEllis Marsalis, Jr., Piano

Glen Fisher, BassMarvin “Smitty” Smith, Drums

Friday, March 4, 2016 at 8 p.m.

The Last Southern Gentlemen Tour

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Biographies

DELFEAYO MARSALISTrombone

Delfeayo Marsalis is one of the top trombonists, composers and producers in jazz today. Known for his “technical excellence, inventive mind and frequent touches of humor” (Los Angeles Times), he is “one of the best, most imaginative and musical of the trombonists of his generation” (San Francisco Examiner). In January 2011, Delfeayo and the Marsalis family (father Ellis and brothers Branford, Wynton and Jason) earned the nation’s highest jazz honor --a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award.

Born in New Orleans on July 28, 1965, Marsalis was destined to a life in music. “I remember my dad (Ellis Marsalis) playing piano at the house, and me laying underneath the piano as a child, listening to him play. After briefly trying bass and drums, in sixth grade I gravitated towards the trombone, which was an extension of my personality. Early on, my influences and inspirations included JJ Johnson, Curtis Fuller, Al Grey, Tyree Glenn and Tommy Dorsey.” Marsalis attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts high school, was classically trained at the Eastern Music Festival and Tanglewood Institute, and majored in both performance and audio production at the Berklee College of Music.

About the time that he first started playing trombone, Marsalis was already greatly interested in the recording process. “When I was in fifth or sixth grade, my brother Branford showed me how to create a feedback loop on a reel to reel machine. At that time there was a real need in the family for demo tapes. In fact, I was recording Wynton when he was in high school. When I was in seventh grade, he challenged me to have his demo tape sound on the same level as Maurice Andre’s classical studio recordings. It was all trial and error and I learned a great deal.” From the age of 17 until the present, Marsalis has produced more than 100 recordings for major artists including Harry Connick, Jr., Marcus Roberts, Spike Lee, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Roberts, Adam Makowicz, Nicholas Payton, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and the projects of Ellis, Branford and Wynton Marsalis.

In addition, Marsalis is an exceptional trombonist who toured internationally with five renowned bandleaders. “Art Blakey taught me a lot about patience and how to construct a solo. My compositions are influenced by Abdullah Ibrahim’s harmonies. Slide Hampton inspired me with the relaxation that he displays in his trombone playing along with his command of the instrument. With Max Roach, I learned that I had to be on top of my game every moment. And Elvin Jones, who I worked with for seven or eight years, taught me about humanity, expressing myself through my instrument, and how to keep time without relying on other players.” During a tour with the Lincoln Center Jazz


Orchestra, he was filmed as part of the Ken Burns documentary Jazz, and he was an integral part of Marsalis Family: A Jazz Celebration, a DVD that assembled all of the musical Marsalis for the first time and was featured on PBS.

As a bandleader, Marsalis has earned wide acclaim for his first three albums as a leader: Pontius Pilate’s Decision (1992), Musashi (1997) and Minions Dominion (2006). His January 2011 release Sweet Thunder, his most ambitious project yet, is a modern interpretation of the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn suite Such Sweet Thunder. Rather than merely recreating the classic work, which is comprised of musical depictions of characters from William Shakespeare’s plays, Marsalis took the work as a point of departure for his octet, creating fresh and new music inspired by the original suite.“In some ways Sweet Thunder started for me in the seventh grade when I wrote a paper on my great uncle Wellman Braud, who played with Duke Ellington in the 1920s. While attending the University of Louisville, I wrote a thesis paper on Ellington and Shakespeare. For the project, I went to the Smithsonian and studied the original copies of the music for Such Sweet Thunder. I didn’t want to just play what Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn wrote in 1957, but to imagine what they might have written if they were here today, more than 50 years later. To me this is jazz opera without the vocals, telling a story with the dramatic music.”

In addition to the recording, Marsalis’ original theatrical jazz production, Sweet Thunder: Duke & Shak, will tour to some 35 American cities and towns beginning in January 2011.

Marsalis has also been long involved in work as an educator. In 2004, he earned an MA in jazz performance at the University of Louisville and was conferred a doctorate by New England College in 2009. He lectured in schools in 1995 on behalf of the Dallas Opera and the Bravo cable network. Marsalis served as director of the Foundation for Artistic and Musical Excellence summer program in Lawrenceville, New Jersey (1998-2002), founded the Uptown Music Theatre in 2000 and implemented its Kidstown After School in three New Orleans grammar schools in 2009. He has composed more than 80 songs that help introduce kids to jazz.

ELLIS MARSALIS, JR.Piano

Ellis Marsalis, Jr. is regarded by many as the premier modern jazz pianist in New Orleans. Born on November 14, 1934, his formal music studies began at age 11 at the Xavier University junior school of music. After high school, Marsalis enrolled in Dillard University (New Orleans, LA) as a clarinet major. He graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education.


Marsalis spent the next year working as an assistant manager in his father’s motel business.

The following year, Marsalis joined the US Marine Corps. While stationed in Southern California he honed his pianist skills as a member of the Corps Four, a Marines jazz quartet that performed on television (Dress Blues, named for the formal Marine Corps uniform and broadcast on CBS) and radio shows (Leatherneck Songbook). Both shows were used to boost recruiting efforts. After completing his Marine Corps duty, Marsalis returned to New Orleans and married Dolores Ferdinand, a New Orleanian, who bore him six sons: Branford, Wynton, Ellis III, Delfeayo, Mboya and Jason.

In 1964 Marsalis, his wife Dolores and, at the time, four sons, moved to the small rural town of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana where he spent two years as a school band and choral director at Carver High School. Returning to New Orleans in 1966, he began freelancing on the local music scene. Between 1966 and 1974, Marsalis would perform at the Playboy Club (New Orleans), Al Hirt Nightclub, Lu and Charlie’s Nightclub, Storyville Nightclub and Crazy Shirley’s. He again entered the teaching profession in 1967 as an adjunct professor of African American Music at Xavier University (New Orleans, LA).

As the family continued to grow, Marsalis continued his educational pursuits, attending Loyola University’s (New Orleans, LA) Master’s degree program in the early summer session of 1974. He would also successfully interview for a teaching position at a new magnet high school for the arts, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), and be hired as an instructor for the Fall semester (1974). Marsalis would spend the next 12 years at NOCCA as an instrumental music teacher with a jazz studies emphasis.

In 1986, Marsalis accepted a teaching position out of state. He became a Commonwealth Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, Virginia), serving as coordinator of Jazz Studies for two of his three years there. In 1989, he returned to New Orleans to become the first occupant and Director of the Coca Cola Endowed Chair of Jazz Studies at the University of New Orleans. During his tenure at UNO he helped fellow colleague Charles Blancq develop a campus performance center called Sand Bar. Marsalis would also develop a jazz orchestra, which he took, on the eve of his retirement, on a tour of Brazil. On August 10, 2001, Marsalis officially retired from the University of New Orleans after 12 years of dedicated service. His retirement was celebrated by a very rare performance of Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason Marsalis at the UNO arena.

Marsalis is the recipient of Honorary Doctorate degrees from his alma mater Dillard University (1989); Ball State University, Muncie, IN (1997); Virginia Commonwealth University (2010); Tulane University, New Orleans, LA; and The Juilliard School, New York, NY. In 2011, Marsalis and his family were


awarded the highest honor in Jazz, National Endowment for the Arts’ Jazz Masters, the first group award ever distributed by the NEA.

Marsalis has appeared on NBC’s Today Show with host Bryant Gumbel; The Tonight Show with both Johnny Carson and Jay Leno; The Arsenio Hall Show with pianist Marcus Roberts; the Charlie Rose show; Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood; ABC’s Good Morning America with Spencer Christian, as well as several local and regional television shows. In 1984 Marsalis and New Orleans singer/actress Joanne “Lady BJ” Creighton shared honors at the Ace Awards ceremony for the best single music program on cable television.

Marsalis continues to be active as a performing pianist leading and occasionally touring his own quartet. He has several recordings on the CBS-SONY label and currently releases recordings on his own recording label, ELM RECORDS, developed with his wife Dolores and son Jason.

GLEN FISHERBass

Glen Fisher, Founder of First Friday Music Club, has worked as a bassist, composer, arts education consultant and musical director all over Europe, South America, and the U.S. for the past 20 years. He has been tagged “the poster child of versatility” by KSDS Jazz 88.3FM. At 42, he’s a veteran band leader and musical director, and a virtuoso sideman as well. Fluent in four languages, he teaches and composes in English, Spanish, Portuguese and German. Fisher studied at the University of California at San Diego and the Vienna Academy of Music in Austria.

The First Friday Club gives you an exciting new opportunity to get involved with young music students around San Diego. Budget cuts in our school system have forced many public schools to abandon music classes. Unfortunately, this means thousands of students no longer have access to the enrichment these classes offer. Director of the First Friday Club, bassist Glen Fisher and the musicians of the Gomango Invasion are working within this community to creatively supplement the lack of music in the schools. By creating venues for kids to perform, teaching private lessons and coaching rock, jazz, and blues bands from ages six and up, we are helping 100s of kids realize their potential as musical artists. We believe that performance experience and the preparation involved in a gig create one of the best learning experiences. The benefits are various. The kids not only continue to experience the joy of playing an instrument and performing onstage, but also learn how to present themselves in front of people, work as a team, act responsibly and communicate well. They also acquire a soulful musical foundation and an understanding of different styles of music and cultures.


Marvin “Smitty” Smith Drums

“It was a very natural inclination for me to play drums,” says Marvin “Smitty” Smith. A glance at his early life validates that truth. Born the son of a drummer, Marvin, Sr., he was always surrounded by music in the house.

At six months old, he would climb up on the large lounge chair positioned directly in front of his father’s drum set and would intensely watch him practice. Whenever his father took a break, he would crawl over and press the foot pedals and attempt to emulate his dad. That experience, and banging on pots and pans, was the extent of his playing until he began formal training at the age of three.

Today, Smith is a young musician extraordinaire whose work has been described as a “comment on invention, firm and adventurous time and technical sufficiency.” He has traveled extensively throughout Asia, Europe and the continental US; and he has shared the stage with such greats as Sonny Rollins, Hank Jones, Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Slide Hampton and Milt Jackson. He is a former member of the Ron Carter Quartet, The New York Jazz Quartet and The Art Farmer/Benny Golson Jazztet.

Smith is featured on more than 45 albums, additional performances and recordings augmented with Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Ray Brown, Phineas Newborn, George Shearing, Bobby Watson, Hamiet Bluiett, Branford Marsalis, David Murray, Emily Remler, Peter Leicht, Kevin Eubanks, Donald Byrd, Monty Alexander, Diane Reeves, Michel Camilo and Grover Washington, Jr. Currently he’s a member of Steve Coleman’s Five Elements, and The Dave Holland Quartet. Smitty conducts seminars and clinics for students in jazz workshops, both in the United States and Europe; and is currently on the staff of the jazz program at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts, Canada, and Drummers Collective, New York City.

Smitty was Downbeat Critics’ Poll winner for Talent Deserving Wider Recognition, in 1985 through 1987, and in 1989. Smith performed on the Soundtrack of filmaker Spike Lee’s School Daze, in Sonny Rollins’ music video “Saxophone Colossus” and as a member of Sting’s Nothing Like the Sun South American tour, 1987. Regarded as a well-rounded musician with the ability to play all styles, Smith is a blossoming composer and arranger, and his success has earned him two albums as a bandleader. As a versitile drummer, there seems to be nothing he cannot do.


THE LAST SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN is a landmark recording for Delfeayo Marsalis, pairing the trombonist with father Ellis Marsalis, Jr. on a collaborative album for the first time. Delfeayo’s finest solo outing to date; the superb recording and meticulous production quality showcase his brilliant tone as he swings effortlessly through standards and original compositions. His clarity of thought at all tempos is impeccable and the telepathic communication with father Ellis is uncanny. (Here,the apple certainly doesn’t fall far from the tree!)

This CD has the sound of classic Jazz played by master musicians. The music is relaxed, thoughtful and provocative; paying tribute to the humanity and humility at the center of the Southern lifestyle that birthed America’s original music. Built on the intimacy of ballads and the blues, while embracing grooves and up-tempo forays, The Last Southern Gentlemen is a firm acknowledgement of the existence and importance of sweet, gentle sounds.

You might also enjoy this upcoming event at Soka Performing Arts Center!globalFEST On The Road - Creole CarnivalSunday, April 3, 2016 at 7 p.m. | Tickets: $39 ($29 student/senior)globalFEST On The Road – Creole Carnival will feature three outstanding acts: Emeline Michel, hailed as the reigning queen of Haitian Song; Casuarina, one of the most respected samba bands of Brazil; and Jamaican YouTube sensation Brushy One-String, so named for the one-string guitar he plays.


Soka University of America Board of Trustees:Steve Dunham, J.D., ChairTariq Hasan, Ph.D., Vice ChairYoshihisa Baba, Ph.D.Paulette Bethel, Ph.D.Matilda BuckLawrence E. Carter, Sr., Ph.D., D.D., D.H., D.R.S.Maria Guajardo, Ph.D.Clothilde V. Hewlett, J.D.

Soka University of America Administration:Daniel Y. Habuki, Ph.D., PresidentEdward M. Feasel, Ph.D., Vice President of Academic Affairs & Dean of

FacultyTomoko Takahashi, Ph.D., Vice President of Institutional Research and Assessment & Dean of Graduate SchoolArchibald E. Asawa, Vice President for Finance and Administration & CFOJohn M. Heffron, Ph.D., Dean of StudentsAndrew Woolsey, Ed.D., Director of Enrollment Services

Our Sponsors and Partners:The Orange County RegisterKJazz 88.1KUSC 91.5Soka PAC is a proud member of California Presentersand proudly supports the California Arts Council

We would like to thank our Board of Trustees and our Administration for their extraordinary support of Soka Performing Arts Center

With deepest gratitude to the thousands of donors who made the Soka Performing Arts Center possible.

www.performingarts.soka.edu | (949) 480-4278 | [email protected]

Lawrence A. Hickman, Ph.D.Koji Hoshino, M.B.A. Kris Knudsen, J.D.Karen Lewis, Ph.D.Daniel Nagashima, M.B.A.David Roselle, Ph.D.Kenji Yoshigo

Soka Performing Arts Center Staff:David C. Palmer, General ManagerRebecca Pierce Goodman, Marketing and Administrative ManagerShannon Lee Blas, Patron Services ManagerSam Morales, Technical Services ManagerEmily Aihara, Lighting and Stage Technician; Steve Baker, House Manager; Laura Cossette, Stage Manager; Kay Matsuyama, Sound & Video TechnicianJim Merod, Director, Jazz Monsters Series and Soka University Jazz Festival

Students of Soka University of America who serve as Patron and Technical Services crew, as well as Marketing Assistants. Citizens of Aliso Viejo and surrounding communities who volunteer their service as ushers and hospitality aides.

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