Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis (born 1961) is arguably the most accomplished jazz musician of his generation. Born into a musical family, he studied both jazz and classical music as a child. Since moving to New York in 1979-to attend the Juilliard School of Music-Marsalis has built an international reputation as a jazz trumpeter, winning nine Grammy Awards. In 1997 he became the first jazz musician to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize-for Blood on the Fields, an oratorio about the experiences of two free Africans who are captured and sold into slavery. In addition to studying the roots of jazz, he has nurtured collaborations with those working in a variety of musical traditions, including European classical and non-Western. Marsalis now serves as the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and has emerged as a leading-and often outspoken-voice regarding jazz's past, present, and future.