Delfeayo Marsalis & The Uptown Jazz Orchestra

Delfeayo Marsalis is an accomplished trombonist, composer, and producer whose extensive career spans music theatre and education. The artist, part of the renowned Marsalis musical family including his father Ellis, has pursued a life in music from an early age. He has performed internationally alongside jazz legends such as Ray Charles, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, and Slide Hampton, while also leading his own ensembles. At seventeen, he launched his career as a producer and has produced more than one hundred twenty recordings that have earned him one Grammy award along with numerous nominations. In 2008, he established the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, an engaging group dedicated to preserving key jazz traditions like riff playing, New Orleans polyphony, and improvised arrangements. He also founded the Uptown Music Theatre in 2000 as a nonprofit organization that trains young people in musical theatre. To date, he has written sixteen musicals rooted in history or designed to unite communities. Additionally, he has composed over ninety songs that teach children about jazz through musical theatre and has conducted more than five thousand students nationwide with his Swinging with the Cool School jazz introduction workshops. Marsalis holds dual bachelor degrees in music performance and production from Berklee College of Music and a master's degree in jazz performance from the University of Louisville, with a doctorate also conferred by the New England College.