Wynton Marsalis’s Auspicious Start
As Told by Himself
I was about five or six, and Miles {Davis}, Clark Terry, Al Hirt and my father were all sitting around a table in Al’s club in New Orleans—this was when my father was still working in Al’s band. My father, just joking around because there were so many trumpet players sitting there, said,

“I better buy Wynton a trumpet.” And Al said,

“Ellis, let me give your boy one of mine.”

It’s ironic looking back on it, because Miles said,

“Don’t give it to him. Trumpet’s too difficult an instrument for him to learn.”

Ha!

Excerpted from Bill Crow’s Jazz Anecdotes, with the author’s permission.