More than two years after Ellis Marsalis died due to complications from COVID-19, the revered jazz patriarch will be honored with a memorial service, a second line parade and a repast on Sunday, May 15.
The Marsalis family announced that a private service by invitation only will be held at Gallier Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The service will be followed by a public second line parade departing Gallier Hall, 545 St. Charles Avenue, at 1 p.m. and proceeding to Congo Square, 701 N. Rampart Street. A community repast will be held at the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, 1901 Bartholomew Street, from 4 to 8 p.m.
The family issued the following statement: “While the 2020-2021 pandemic disallowed our community to properly honor, celebrate, and lay to rest our dearly departed piano patriarch, Ellis Marsalis Jr., due to large public gathering health precautions upon Ellis‘ transition in April of 2020, the Marsalis family now sees fit to invite all who cherished our beloved son, brother, husband, father, uncle, grandfather, musician, composer, teacher, professor, mentor, neighbor, and community leader to gather together this Sunday, May 15, at 1 p.m. and send up his spirit in our generational tradition.”
The family wishes to advise the community that indoor access to the repast will be limited due to building fire and capacity regulations. Access to outdoor activities will be available and unrestricted.
Marsalis died on April 1, 2020, at age 85. Marsalis, along with four of his sons—Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason—are considered New Orleans jazz royalty. Marsalis, who won numerous awards throughout his lifetime, was the recipient of OffBeat‘s 2014 Best of The Beat Lifetime Achievement in Music and in 2001 for Music Education. Marsalis created the University of New Orleans Jazz Studies program, along with fellow musician and educator Harold Battiste. Marsalis also performed regularly at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro on Frenchmen Street for more than 30 years, until he retired from regular performances in early 2020 due to health issues unrelated to the pandemic. In 2018, Marsalis received the Jazz Hero Award from the Jazz Journalists Association. At the time, the association said, “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 only changed 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.”
