In cities across the country each year, the Jazz Journalists Association bestows an honor to a local member of the jazz community who has gone way above and beyond the call of duty with regard to their work in developing and sustaining their local jazz communities. The New Orleans chapter of the JJA has chosen Ellis Marsalis as its Jazz Hero Award recipient this year.

According to JJA’s Jennifer Odell, “It would be difficult to overstate the impact pianist, educator and 2011 NEA Jazz Master Ellis Marsalis Jr. has had on modern jazz in New Orleans…Ellis Marsalis Jr., by staying in New Orleans, not onlychanged music history, he’s made it.  His lifelong, selfless yet creative commitment to our city and to the music that continues to come from it makes him a true Jazz Hero.”

On Monday, April 30, the New Orleans Jazz Museum will host the award ceremony, where Marsalis will receive the honor as part of the International Jazz Day celebrations taking place there. The award ceremony will take place on the third-floor lobby from 3:30-4:30 p.m., but the Museum will be open to the public in celebration of IJD beginning at 10 a.m. For more information on the event, click here.