Wynton Marsalis

Trumpeter, composer and educator Wynton Marsalis belts out a tune at Oyster Elementary School in Washington as a student holds his ears, April 9, 1996. Marsalis brought his trumpet and musical experience to the school to give a music lesson to about 300 children.

Marsalis, who is the artistic director for Jazz at Lincoln Center, performs during a kickoff for group's Lincoln Center's season and "Blood on the Fields," his epic oratorio about slavery, on Jan 29, 1997, in New York.

Marsalis plays for the Amherst College's graduating class, May 24, 1997, during senior class exercises in Amherst, Mass.

Marsalis, right, along with musicians from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the MTA's Music Under New York program, perform on a moving "A" subway train between Harlem's 125th Street and Columbus Circle stations in New York, April 29, 1999. Marsalis and the group played a collection of Duke Ellington's music in honor of his 100th birthday, including "Take The A Train."

Marsalis, center, and Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn, a member of the Board of Directors of "Jazz at Lincoln Center," applaud United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan during a speech in which Annan recognized Marsalis as a "Messenger of Peace," at Alice Tully Hall in New York City's Lincoln Center, March 22, 2001.

Marsalis performs during his concert with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at the Stravinski hall stage of the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland, on July 15, 2002.

Marsalis plays a blues number with his septet at the Apollo Theater in Harlem during "Blowin' the Blues Away," a gala benefit for Jazz at Lincoln Center, June 2, 2003, in New York. Congress declared 2003 the "The Year of the Blues," to recognize one of America's most important musical forms.

Marsalis plays at a panel on "Jazz and Democracy," held at the Walter Reade Theater in New York, Dec. 10, 2003. The event was attended by former President Bill Clinton.

Marsalis performs for the media during a press conference March 17, 2004, in Mexico City, where he did four concerts with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

In 1983, Marsalis became the first artist to win Grammys for jazz and classical music in the same year. Then, in 1997, Marsalis became the first and only jazz artist to win a Pulitzer Prize. His composition, "Blood on the Fields," was a jazz opera, focusing on the tragedy of slavery in America.