Delfeayo & Ellis Marsalis Quartet CD Release Party at Snug Harbor on 11/21

This Friday marks an important event at Snug Harbor on Frenchmen Street as the Delfeayo & Ellis Marsalis Quartet come together in celebration of trombonist Delfeayo’s latest album, The Last Southern Gentleman.

Delfeayo Marsalis is currently one of the most acclaimed jazz musicians in the city and beyond, excelling as a trombonist, composer, and producer. His father, Ellis Marsalis, is an internationally lauded jazz pianist.

Delfeayo Marsalis, The Last Southern Gentlemen, album cover, OffBeat Magazine, December 2014The two of them have collaborated before, as well as with the other talented members of their musical family: trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and drummer Jason Marsalis.

In fact, in 2011, the Marsalis family was awarded the nation’s highest jazz honor, the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award.

However, The Last Southern Gentleman is the father-and-son pair’s first full recording together, and it is truly masterful.

With piano and trombone artfully complementing one another, the music is both contemplative and soothing. The pieces have grown out of the great American ballad tradition and convey the human warmth intrinsic to the southern lifestyle.

On the album, John Clayton and Marvin “Smitty” Smith provide the perfect backing on bass and drums.

The Quartet performing on Friday will feature the equally talented Peter Harris on bass, and Justin Faulkner on drums.

Shows begin at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. and tickets cost $25.

An additional release party for the album, combined with a celebration of Ellis Marsalis’ birthday, will be held at noon on Saturday, December 6, at Peaches Records on North Peter St.