Jazz Pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr. Has Passed Away Due to Complications From the Coronavirus

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis has passed away at age 85. According to The New York Times, his death was due to complications of the coronavirus.

Mr. Marsalis spent decades as a working musician and teacher in New Orleans before his sons, Wynton and Branford, gained national fame in the 1980s.

Marsalis has recorded nearly twenty of his own albums, and was featured on many album with musicians such as David "Fathead" Newman, Eddie Harris, Marcus Roberts, and Courtney Pine.

He taught at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the University of New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana, and was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music at Musicians' Village in New Orleans is named in his honor.

Read more on The New York Times.