Jazz great Branford Marsalis returns home to New Orleans to continue father's legacy

Branford Marsalis is returning to his native New Orleans where he'll become artistic director of the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a position held by his late father.

New Orleans -- For several mornings in a row last year, Grammy-winning jazz musician Branford Marsalis said he woke up trying to figure out the next phase of his long career. Then he heard a “little voice getting louder and louder” until its message revealed itself: “You have to go home.”

Home is New Orleans where, on Tuesday, Marsalis will be named the artistic director of the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a position held by his father, Ellis Marsalis, who died in 2020 from complications of COVID-19. The ceremony will include dignitaries in the philanthropic world, such as Ford Foundation President Darren Walker.

The Marsalis family is legendary in New Orleans -- Branford’s brother, Wynton Marsalis, is director of the Lincoln Center and a Grammy-winning trumpeter, Delfeayo Marsalis is an acclaimed trombonist who tours with the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, and Jason Marsalis is a prolific session musician as a drummer and vibraphonist.

In a statement provided to ABC News, Wynton Marsalis said that their father “was dedicated to creating a more conscious world through jazz. Branford knows this better than anyone. He is a fantastic teacher, dynamic musician, and engaged thinker. … We all sleep better knowing that Branford will continue in the high-minded spirit we were taught in the Crescent City.”