his April 28, 2019, file photo, shows Ellis Marsalis during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Wednesday, April 1, 2020, that Marsalis has died. He was 85. (AP Photo/Sophia Germer, File)
JANET McCONNAUGHEY and REBECCA SANTANAÂ
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ellis Marsalis Jr., jazz pianist, teacher and patriarch of a New Orleans musical clan that includes famed performer sons Wynton and Branford, has died after battling pneumonia brought by the new coronavirus, one of his sons said late Wednesday.
He was 85.
Ellis Marsalis III confirmed in a phone interview with The Associated Press that his father's death was brought about by the virus that is causing the global pandemic.
"Pneumonia was the actual thing that caused his demise. But it was pneumonia brought on by COVID-19," said the younger Marsalis, speaking of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
He said he drove from Baltimore on Sunday to be with his father as he was hospitalized. He said others in
