NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT...

MUSIC: Weaver of Dreams

Delfeayo Marsalis:  My interest in production was practical, because Branford and Wynton needed somebody to hit the play, the record button and hit the, you know, pause button.  So, I happened to be around, I was in fifth grade... fifth or sixth grade and I just started into it. 

THE FOURTH SON IN THE GREAT MUSICAL MARSALIS FAMILY OF NEW ORLEANS, NEA JAZZ MASTER DELFEAYO MARSALIS IS A TROMBONIST AND EDUCATOR.  BUT HE'S PROBABLY BEST KNOWN AS A JAZZ PRODUCER, LOGGING THOSE HOURS ALL THE WAY BACK TO GRADESCHOOL...

Delfeayo Marsalis:  We'd put on the records and Wynton would say 'This doesn't sound like that Maurice Andre record,' and me not knowing about technology and equipment and halls, I was trying to figure out, how can I make my recording in this house on Hickory Street sound like Maurice Andre, so we would experiment and I'd go into the bathroom and say, 'okay, this is probably the best place because it has a reverberant sound.' So we'd go in the bathroom and say, 'okay, now this is too reverberant,' we'd move the microphone around and we'd try the front room, we'd go from a distance because it was reverb, and I didn't know what it was, I was trying to figure out what is this sound?  How can I get it?  So we experimented with that.  And then, Branford was into technology, so... It was good times.  We were just fooling around, doing what kids do.

MUSIC: up for punctuation, then fades under and out

THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH TROMBONIST AND PRODUCER DELFEAYO MARSALIS WAS CREATED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.  I'M CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE.