Delfeayo Marsalis & The Uptown Jazz Orchestra

Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra

Founded 2008 — Led by trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis (b. New Orleans, 1965)

Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra is New Orleans' premier modern big band — up to 18 musicians strong, blending the dance-driven energy of a brass band with the sophistication of Basie and Ellington. Led by Grammy-winning trombonist and producer Delfeayo Marsalis, the orchestra keeps New Orleans' riff-playing, polyphonic jazz traditions swinging for a new generation.

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🎺 Leader

Delfeayo Marsalis · trombone

🎶 Sound

Big band · second-line swing

🏆 Honors

Grammy-winning producer · 120+ records produced

UJO blends the dance-driven energy of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band with the sophisticated stylings of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and Kenny Kirkland. — Ted Panken, DownBeat

Why We Love Delfeayo Marsalis & The Uptown Jazz Orchestra

Most big bands are museums with a beat. The Uptown Jazz Orchestra is a party with a curriculum. Delfeayo Marsalis built an 18-piece wrecking crew that can swing like Basie, strut like a second line, and then turn around and teach a roomful of kids what a riff is — all in the same night. It's the rare large ensemble that sounds like New Orleans rather than just sounding like jazz: polyphonic, joyful, a little unruly, and absolutely impossible to sit still through. This is what the tradition sounds like when it's alive.

Biography

A Big Band for the Second Line Generation

Delfeayo Marsalis was born July 28, 1965, in New Orleans, the son of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis Jr. and brother of Wynton, Branford, and Jason. He began producing records at 17 and has since produced more than 120 recordings — earning a Grammy Award and several nominations — for artists including Harry Connick Jr., Spike Lee, Terence Blanchard, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and his own family. A Berklee College of Music graduate with a master's from the University of Louisville, he has paired his recording career with jazz education work in New Orleans.

In 2008 Marsalis formed the Uptown Jazz Orchestra to keep important jazz traditions alive — riff playing, spontaneous arrangements, collective New Orleans polyphony — and to bring young, homegrown talent into the big-band tradition. The orchestra has grown into one of the premier large ensembles in the world, touring locally, nationally, and internationally. Marsalis also founded the Uptown Music Theatre in 2000 and the “Swinging with the Cool School” education program in 2008, and since 2021 UJO has produced the annual Jazz at Congo Square Festival.

Our philosophy is to take the important ingredients from past generations and use them in the gumbo that we're creating today.

— Delfeayo Marsalis

As a bandleader he records for his own Troubadour Jass label, including four albums with the orchestra: Make America Great Again! (2016), Jazz Party (2020), Uptown on Mardi Gras Day (2023), and Crescent City Jewels (2024) — which spent eight weeks in the JazzWeek radio charts' Top 10.