Jason Ignatius Marsalis (born March 4, 1977) is an American jazz drummer, vibraphone player, composer, producer, band leader, and member of the Marsalis family of musicians. He is the youngest son of Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis and the late Ellis Marsalis, Jr., his brothers are Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis.
Contents
Early life
Marsalis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Dolores (née Ferdinand) and Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr., a pianist and music professor. His brothers are Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis III (1964), Delfeayo Marsalis, and Mboya Kenyatta (1971). Branford, Wynton, and Delfeayo are also jazz musicians.
Education
Marsalis graduated from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and McMain Magnet Secondary School in 1995. In 1998, after his third year at Loyola University New Orleans where he was studying classical music and music performance, he left college to pursue his career as a musician.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Marsalis re-enrolled in Loyola to complete his degree because "with venues shuttered and tours canceled" "he had the time and opportunity to return to his studies."
Thirty-one years after his initial enrollment at Loyola, Marsalis graduated from the College of Music and Media in May 2026.
Musical career
At age 6, Marsalis took lessons from legendary New Orleans drummer James Black. As a teenager, he made his recording debut on Delfeayo Marsalis's 1992 release, Pontius Pilate’s Decision.
Marsalis worked as a sideman in mainstream jazz, funk, and jazz fusion groups (Neslort and Snarky Puppy); a Brazilian percussion ensemble (Casa Samba); and played Celtic music with Beth Patterson. He introduced percussionist Bill Summers to trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, and they founded Los Hombres Calientes. Marsalis has also played with John Ellis, Dr. Michael White, and the Marsalis family. Marsalis regularly performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival as leader and sideman.
Marsalis has had a long professional career and collaboration with pianist Marcus Roberts. In 1994 at the age of 17 he toured as a member of the Marcus Roberts Trio performing selections from Roberts' Gershwin for Lovers. In 2022 he continues performing with Marcus Roberts as a member of the trio and Robert's Modern Jazz Generation. In a program of Duke Ellington songs at Carnegie Hall with Marcus Roberts, bassist Rodney Jordan, vocalist Catherine Russell, and the American Symphony Orchestra, critic Seth Colter Walls writes "The drumming by Marsalis was likewise individual in character, particularly during "Three Black Kings." (At one point, he made a simple-sounding pattern progressively complex in its syncopations, until he stirred the crowd to applause.)"
At the age of 21, Marsalis released his first record as leader, The Year of the Drummer. "On this impressive debut, his quintet puts together a highly coordinated spin on blues motifs and Caribbean figures. The music is vivacious as it makes its move; all sorts of fresh ideas concerning tempo fill the air."
Los Angeles Times’ writer Don Heckman reviewed Marsalis's second record, the 2000 release, Music in Motion, and described it as "impressive," "the opportunity to display his technique in everything from brushwork and hard-driving jazz to offbeat meters and Brazilian rhythms...with ease," and "purposeful, intelligent drumming." The record's cover photograph is of Jason standing on the tracks of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad along Leake Avenue in New Orleans.
In 2009, Marsalis released his first album as a leader on vibraphone, entitled Music Update. The album received 4.5 out of 5 stars in DownBeat magazine. Writing in The New York Times, critic Ben Ratliff said that Marsalis was "an excellent musician trying out something risky without embarrassment."
Film
On June 29, 2003 Seiji Ozawa conducted the Berlin Philharmonic with the Marcus Roberts Trio at the Waldbühne in Berlin. They performed the music of George Gershwin and one piece each by Marcus Roberts and Paul Lincke. EuroArts released the concert on Blu-Ray and DVD in 2021 as Ozawa: A Gershwin Night - Waldbühne Berlin. The video includes a 19-minute documentary, They got Rhythm, about the origin of the performance and includes footage of rehearsals and interviews of Marsalis, Seiji Ozawa, Marcus Roberts, and bassist Roland Guerin.
Marsalis is one of the artists featured in Tradition is a Temple: The Modern Masters of New Orleans, a 2013 documentary film about New Orleans.
In 2022 Music Pictures: New Orleans had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and after the premiere Marsalis performed for the attendees. The documentary is about elder and master musicians of New Orleans, and Marsalis's father, Ellis Marsalis, Jr. is featured. The documentary includes footage of Marsalis and his father recording and footage of one of his father's last live performances at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro where Marsalis was headlining.
One of the stories in the 2023 Grammy award-winning film Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story
features Ellis Marsalis playing with his sons Jason, Branford, Wynton, and Delfeayo
in the Jazz Test at the 2019 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. At the time, Ellis was 84 years old. This might have been the last time the Marsalis family musicians played together publicly. Ellis died less than one year later. All five Marsalis musicians were interviewed and told vignettes about Jazz Fest including Jason recalling meeting Miles Davis at eight years old.
Personal life
Marsalis was raised Catholic.
Awards and honors
National Endowment for the Arts
Marsalis and his brothers Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and their father Ellis were named NEA Jazz Masters in 2011.
Selected discography
As leader
Music for Meditation and Relaxation, Vol. 2 (self-released, 2023)
Music for Meditation and Relaxation, Vol. 1 (self-released, 2022)
Jason Marsalis Live (Basin Street, 2020)
Jason Marsalis & The 21st Century Trad Band - Melody Reimagined:book 1 (Basin Street, 2017)
Heirs Of The Crescent City (ELM Records, 2016)
Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet - The 21st Century Trad Band (Basin Street, 2014)
Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet - In a World of Mallets (Basin Street, 2013)
Music Update (ELM Records, 2009)
Music in Motion (Basin Street, 2000)
The Year of the Drummer (Basin Street, 1998)
As co-leader
Los Hombres Calientes – Vol. 2 (Basin Street, 2000)
Los Hombres Calientes – Los Hombres Calientes (Basin Street, 1998)
As sideman
John Ellis & Double Wide - Fireball (Sunnyside Records, 2026)
Trumpet Mafia - Tell Me (self-released single, 2025)
Funkwrench Blues - Mischief in the Musitorium (Need to Know Music, 2025), featured on track 6, Funk-ish
Trumpet Mafia - Dippy ft. Nicholas Payton, Wendell Brunious, Leroy Jones (self-released single, 2024)
Mahmoud Chouki - Caravan -- From Marrakech to New Orleans (New Orleans Jazz Museum/Gallatin Street Records, 2024), featured on track 2, Angelica
John Ellis Quartet - Bizet: Carmen in Jazz (Blue Room Music, 2023)
Judith Owen – Winter Wonderland (Holiday Edition) (Twanky Records, 2023)
Christian Fabian Trio – Hip To The Skip (feat. Jason Marsalis & Matt King) (Spice Rack Records, 2023)
Andy Page Quartet - Mobius (self-released, 2023)
Patrick S. Noonan – Beat Nouveau (Wild Orchard Record Company, 2022)
Outer Park – Blood from an Orange (Wild Orchard Record Company, 2022)
Judith Owen – Come On and Get It (Twanky Records, 2022), vibraphone on track 9
Daniel Hope - America (Deutsche Grammophon, 2022), drummer on tracks 1–5, Gershwin Song Suite with Marcus Roberts Trio
Outer Park – Whole Lotta Orange (Wild Orchard Record Company, 2021)