NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT...

MUSIC: Yesterday

Wynton Marsalis:  It was a great education I got watchin him. He had a lot of integrity about playing. 'Cause nobody wanted to hear what they was playing too much. You know, it just was the reality of that time... 

NEA JAZZ MASTER WYNTON MARSALIS RECALLS HOW MUCH HIS FATHER. ELLIS. STRUGGLED AS A MUSICIAN TRYING TO PLAY MODERN JAZZ IN NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA...

Wynton Marsalis:  Like, our funk band, we'd have 2,000 people, man, all black people. My daddy's gig would be four black people, maybe five, maybe 15 white people. You know, that's really the time during segregation, still the segregation was strong. And New Orleans was really divided. But he...Him and other jazz musicians was the first integrated environment you saw with adults. Where they were actually integrated, like they knew each other and their families knew each other, you wouldn't see that in everyday life.

MUSIC: up for punctuation, then fades under and out

THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH WYNTON MARSALIS ON HIS FATHER, PIANIST ELLIS MARSALIS, WAS CREATED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.  I'M CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE.