NEW ORLEANS 鈥� A tourist riverboat calliope blasted hymn and gospel tunes across New Orleans' French Quarter on Friday as a tribute to the late jazz pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis.
Marsalis, who taught generations of jazz players, including four of his six sons, died Wednesday of pneumonia brought on by COVID-19.
On Friday, a medley including 鈥淗ow Great Thou Art鈥� and 鈥淚鈥檒l Fly Away鈥� climaxed with 鈥淲hen the Saints Go Marching In鈥� and the 鈥淥de to Joy鈥� from Beethoven鈥檚 Ninth Symphony.
Most of the city has been staying inside, but Tristan Dufrene was among several people making cellphone videos of the performance, which she said she'd learned about from an Instagram post.
"It was beautiful,鈥� she said afterward.
About two dozen people, many of them journalists, spaced themselves along the Bienville Street wharf for the 15-minute performance by Debbie Fagnano, who plays calliope on the riverboat Natchez.
New Orleans has been especially hard-hit by the coronavirus outbreak and the state's governor has warned that the region is projected to run out of ventilators by Tuesday and hospital beds five days later.
The boat may host brief Friday concerts as a morale-booster, since the sound carries a long way, said Adrienne Thomas, a spokeswoman for the steamboat company. 鈥淧erhaps next week we might be playing the tunes we usually play for Good Friday,鈥� she said.
A few miles away, at the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a sign saying classes are suspended until further notice was partly covered by one reading, 鈥淩est In Peace Ellis. Forever in our hearts.鈥�
Saxophone player Branford Marsalis, one of Ellis Marsalis' sons, and singer and pianist Harry Connick Jr., who was among the elder Marsalis' students, founded the
Ellis Marsalis' son Wynton, a Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning trumpeter, is America鈥檚 most prominent jazz spokesman as artistic director of jazz at New York鈥檚 Lincoln Center.
Janet McConnaughey, The Associated Press
