Marsalis to jazz Eisenhower

Wynton Marsalis is trying to keep the tradition of jazz alive.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and world-renowned trumpet player will be coming to share his popular jazz tones at 8 p.m. tonight at Eisenhower Auditorium.

There are still seats available for the show. The student rush an hour before the performance will offer $15 tickets for the show, said Robin Conklin, marketing representative for the Center for Performing Arts.

Along with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the group he formed in 1995, Marsalis will likely be playing songs from a repertoire that includes works by such jazz greats as Jelly Roll Morton, Theolonious Monk and Charles Mingus.

Marsalis has made a name for himself as one of the leading jazz and classical trumpet players in the world.

Born in New Orleans in 1961, Marsalis was brought up in a family that has been called the "First Family of Jazz." His father and three of his five brothers are jazz musicians. At the age of 14, Marsalis was even performing with the New Orleans Philharmonic.

In 1980, Marsalis made his jazz debut with the Jazz Messengers. In 1982, he formed a jazz quintet that included his brother, Branford. Two years later, he won Grammy awards for his third jazz album, Hot House Flowers, as well as for his first classical album, Trumpet Concertos.

In 1997, Marsalis' cantata, Blood on the Fields, became the first jazz-based work ever to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Marsalis has long favored the traditional style of jazz which was developed by such performers as Duke Ellington and Count Basie. His criticism of modern forms of jazz, such as the avant-garde style, however, has sometimes made him a controversial figure.

Jazz at Lincoln Center was co-founded by Marsalis as a program dedicated to reconnecting jazz music to its traditions.

In addition to his achievements as a composer and a performer, Marsalis is known as an educator.

"I admire Marsalis for his efforts to spread jazz to younger generations," said Suartcha Prueksaritanond (senior-premedicine), president of the Penn State Jazz Club.

In keeping with this mission, he recently participated in a four-part educational series about music titled "Marsalis on Music," which aired on PBS.