Wynton Marsalis' new band of young musicians (2024)

The talented Marsalis brothers had a sibling rivalry alright, as Wynton tells it.

The New Orleans brood includes big brother and saxophonist Branford, who later would be credited along with Wynton, a trumpeter, with kicking off a jazz renaissance. Also there’s Delfeayo, a trombonist, and drummer Jason, the youngest. Delfeayo’s twin is named Ellis III, and another brother is Mboya.

“We did have a rivalry, and it was me and my brother Delfeayo against Branford and Ellis,” Marsalis, who is bringing a band of young musicians to perform in Greensboro on Thursday, said with a smile. “We would play football against them or Monopoly. We had a game where (the younger brothers) would ride on (the older siblings’ backs), and we would be horses and they would be knights. And we would fight.”

Sons of a gifted pianist, Ellis Marsalis Jr., whose students have included Harry Connick Jr., their own talents developed, and he and Branford were always on gigs together early on.

“He was such a great musician, and I learned so much from him,” Marsalis said of Branford on a video conference call just after performing at the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland. “When I had my first recording with Herbie Hanco*ck and them, I was 19, and I told them there’s no way in the world I can record without my brother. We did it in Japan. So I took my money and made sure my brother could get out there.”

Perhaps the most famous contemporary jazz musician, Marsalis toured with Hanco*ck and earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for his three-CD set “Blood on the Fields.”

A rarity in music, Marsalis has won Grammys in the classical music and jazz genres.

“My father was a music teacher, and he told me to try everything,” Marsalis recalled.

Later with the fame came rifts between the siblings. But family bonds stayed stronger.

Both household names — Branford would also later lead “The Tonight Show” band supporting host Jay Leno — the two brothers have compelling ties to the Triad, though separately.

Branford, also a Grammy Award winner, has performed multiple times with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, including a surprise appearance at the orchestra’s 2021 concert with Sting.

Wynton attended the prestigious Eastern Music Festival as a teenager.

It’s an experience he said would change his life.

One time at band camp

Wynton was looking for a camp in the South and found EMF on a brochure.

He auditioned on the Guilford College campus, arriving with Branford, recalled Dr. Sam LeBauer, whose cousin Sheldon “Shelly” Morgenstern, founded the summer music camp. LeBauer, who was between undergraduate and medical school at the time, helped Morgenstern judge candidates during auditions.

At the time, five or six trumpet players had auditioned for a spot.

“And then Wynton walked up, and we didn’t know who he was,” LeBauer recalled. “He was a little fella.”

Then he started to play.

“I just remember Shelly and I just looking at each other,” LeBauer said. “Both of us had the same expression: ‘My goodness.’ I remember saying I thought the other guys were good. And when we listened to Wynton, he was phenomenal.”

Wynton had never traveled alone when he took the train back for the summer, and his parents sent him with the proverbial fried chicken in a basket and Coca-Cola.

“It changed my life,” Marsalis said of the nurturing that came over two summers and lifetime ties. “I showed up in Greensboro and was shown so much love and respect.”

Brothers Delfeayo and Jason would follow years later.

Marsalis spoke with admiration of Joe Thayer, the camp’s music director at the time, and the faculty working with the young people.

“I can still remember the pieces we played,” Marsalis said. “The seriousness of the other students. The great teachers. We were always in someone’s home. I loved EMF, and I learned so much there.”

He has lots of Greensboro memories and laughs when he mentions the Bob McAdoo basketball camp going on at Guilford during the same time. The NBA superstar is a Greensboro native.

“We got a chance to go in there and put some work on them,” Marsalis joked of the other student musicians who joined him in a few pickup games against those campers.

Marsalis was a festival student in 1977 and 1978 and by then had already performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic.

Six years after he left EMF, he was also the first artist to win Grammys for both classical and jazz recordings in a single year.

His collaborations include former “American Idol” winner and former High Point resident Fantasia Barrino and their “After Midnight,” a musical celebrating Duke Ellington’s years at the famous Cotton Club.

He would go on to write numerous books on music and is a managing and artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center, the director of jazz studies at The Juilliard School, which he attended, and president of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation.

He returned as one of those EMF instructors to provide master classes, which is a chance for budding musicians to hear Marsalis critique their playing and hear his suggestions for improvement.

And, of course, he continues to perform.

Which brings him to Greensboro on Thursday.

Making the band

This time, he’s bringing to the city young musicians — The Future of Jazz Septet — some of whom are barely out of college but started playing early.

“Greensboro’s going to love them,” Marsalis promised.

They include drummer Domo Branch, who Marsalis calls a “force of nature.” There’s also Philip Norris, a North Carolina native who Marsalis found years ago at a camp at Julliard. He calls him the “greatest young bassist in the country.”

For decades, Blakey would bring in a rotating ensemble of young musicians that would be prolific in their own right. That ensemble and others like it were very important for the continuing growth of the jazz scene because it provided younger players direct experience and mentorship.

Those types of groups are rare these days, and Marsalis now acts as a mentor and was also in the Jazz Messengers, providing a full circle moment.

“It’s a perfect opportunity to give the great, younger musicians a way for people to hear them,” Marsalis explained. “Young people who can unquestionably play.”

The group performs a variety of music including “The Integrity Suite,” which was played for the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I got another kid who was a student of ours, a guitarist named Cosimo Fabrizio, to write briefs for each piece, with legal precedence that went along with the pieces I wrote,” said Marsalis, who has an arsenal of stories he might share with audiences. “He’s now in Harvard Law School.

“When we finished, they didn’t care about the music — they wanted to know who wrote the briefs. They said get him in here.”