Jason Marsalis
NOLA
Drummer and vibraphonist Jason Marsalis is the youngest of four Marsalis siblings who are all accomplished musicians (Wynton, Branford, and Delfeayo).
Jason was destined for a career in music growing up in New Orleans in a music-first family, led by the patriarch, pianist, and educator Ellis Marsalis.
Marsalis was born in 1977. At the age of three, his parents gave him a toy drum set and Jason would later say his parents would shout as he played, “Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the fabulous Jason.” By age six Jason was taking drum lessons from legendary New Orleans drummer James Black. The next year he started playing occasionally in his father’s band.
He studied at Loyola University while playing in Latin-jazz and funk bands. In 1995 he started playing with pianist Marcus Roberts who had been in trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’s band.
By the year 2000, Jason was touring with Roberts while on the side he started to play the vibraphone at other gigs around New Orleans.
The vibes would soon become Jason’s principal instrument even as he remains to this day, a sought-after drummer. His reputation as a vibraphonist was cemented in 2008, after he performed with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, amply filling the shoes of one of the greatest vibe players who ever lived.
Jason is also a passionate educator who advocates for maintaining music programs in public schools.
