Branford Marsalis appointed artistic director at New Orleans music center honoring his father

Acclaimed composer and jazz musician Branford Marsalis has been named the artistic director for the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans.

The center is named for Branford's late father, a pianist, teacher and patriarch of an accomplished family of New Orleans musicians that also includes Branford's brother, trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis. The elder Marsalis served as the artistic director when the center opened in 2012 until his death in April 2020.

"I didn’t move back to do this. I moved back to move back," Marsalis, who has lived for years in Durham, North Carolina, said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the formal announcement. "This is the icing on the cake."