Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis to bring world-class jazz chops to Wilmington

Jazz trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis will play the Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College with Wilmington's Benny Hill Quartet on Wednesday evening. The event will have a benefit beyond the enjoyment of great music-making.

This is the third annual Benny Hill Quartet Scholarship Benefit Concert, organized to raise funds for student musicians who excel academically and display exceptional talent.

Marsalis, of course, comes from that illustrious New Orleans family of musicians that includes Ellis (father and pianist), Wynton (trumpet), Branford (saxophone) and Jason (drums). Together, they received the 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award.

Delfeayo is highly respected as a recording producer and composer. And like his dad and siblings he is active in music education.

Marsalis' fluid, agile sound was influenced by the great trombonists of the Duke Ellington ensembles, including Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Booty Wood, Quentin “Butter” Jackson and Tyree Glenn, as well as big-band leader Tommy Dorsey.

I spoke about the upcoming scholarship concert with its namesake, saxophonist Benny Hill, a professor of music at CFCC who is beloved in Wilmington and abroad for playing that matches the warmth of his personality and his masterful improvisations.

Asked about the influence of the Marsalis family on his own life, Hill said that it was Wynton and Branford's earlier classical recordings that first captured his attention. Jazz wasn't really on Hill's radar until he was an undergraduate at University of North Carolina Wilmington.

“When I was into classical music and Branford Marsalis, I'd listen to that,” he said. “But because of that, I ended up getting some of his jazz CDs and I became a big fan.”

Hill said that going to concerts given by Wynton and Branford influenced him when he was a young musician in the early 1990s.

“And as for Delfeayo,” Hill said, “I met him when he was here shooting 'Bolden.'”

Released in 2019, the biopic about jazz cornetist Buddy Bolden was a dozen years in the making.

“We had a couple of jam sessions and when I went to New Orleans a few years ago, I had been invited to sit in with him,” Hill said. “I mentioned that I was doing this (scholarship concert) here. And he said he'd be happy to come and be a guest artist.”

Unfortunately, because of the timing of this concert, which comes on the heels of the holiday season, there won't be a masterclass as with past benefits, though Hill said Marsalis is enthusiastic about working students.

Hill added that he and all the members of his quartet -- pianist Brad Merritt, bassist Doug Irving and drummer Israel Bannerman -- are volunteering their time for the concert.

A recipient of music scholarships throughout his college career at UNCW and Northern Illinois University, Hill said, he's “trying to keep the ticket prices the same every year. So the price is down, but all of the money goes back towards scholarships at Cape Fear.”

Contact StarNews arts and entertainment at 910-343-2343.

What: CFCC presents the third annual Benny Hill Quartet Scholarship Benefit Concert, with special guest Delfeayo Marsalis

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8

Where: CFCC Wilson Center, 703 N. Third St., Wilmington

Tickets: $20, plus taxes and fees.

Details: 910-362-7999 or WilsonCenterTickets.com

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