Serving the people of New Orleans through youth music education, live concerts, community programs, world-class recording facilities, and more.
![](https://ellismarsaliscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/c-EMCM-Zack-Smith-2016-06-02-9984-edited-scaled-e1695138494532-1024x1024.jpg)
![](https://ellismarsaliscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/c-EMCM-Zack-Smith-2016-06-02-9984-edited-scaled-e1695138494532-1024x1024.jpg)
OUR NAMESAKE
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
Ellis Marsalis, Jr., was a celebrated jazz musician, recording artist, educator, and father. He is also our namesake and the Center’s first artistic director. Mr. Marsalis established a standard of excellence for classroom instruction and student performance. He was a powerful presence, representing the rigor and respect world-class music education demands while also projecting warmth, offering guidance, and sending a message to each and every student that they mattered. The Ellis Marsalis Center serves as a living memorial to him, and we are honored to carry on his legacy.
In other places, culture comes down from on high. In New Orleans, it comes from the streets.
– Ellis Marsalis, Jr.