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New Orleans calliope tribute for jazz great Ellis Marsalis

Marsalis taught generations of jazz players, including four of his six sons.

Credit: AP

Debbie Fagnano, the calliope player for the riverboat Natchez, plays a 15-minute hymn and gospel medley, Friday, April 3, 2020 as a tribute to jazz pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, who died Wednesday of pneumonia brought on by COVID-19. A steamboat company spokeswoman said that since the calliope carries a long way, the Natchez may play brief concerts on Friday as morale-boosters. (AP Photo/Janet McConnaughey)

NEW ORLEANS — A tourist riverboat calliope blasted hymn and gospel tunes across New Orleans' French Quarter as a tribute to jazz pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, who died Wednesday of COVID-19.

A medley including “How Great Thou Art” and “I'll Fly Away” climaxed with “When the Saints Go Marching In” and the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

Read Marsalis' obituary here:

RELATED: Ellis Marsalis, jazz master and musical family patriarch, dies at 85

Tristan Dufrene was among several people making cellphone videos of the performance. Afterward, she said it was beautiful.

Marsalis taught generations of jazz players, including four of his six sons. His son Wynton is a trumpeter and the artistic director of jazz at New York’s Lincoln Center.

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