Ellis Marsalis: "I didn't have to become a bad math teacher like some people, or a terrible English teacher." A celebration of New Orleans music featuring Ellis Marsalis Trio, Rebirth Brass Band and Chris Thomas King Where: Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, North Side. When: Tonight, 7:30; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 7 and 9:30 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 p.m. $42.50. 412-322-1773. Tickets: $42.50; 412-322-0800. Related coverage Rebirth Brass Band hits the road Blues guitarist's new album recalls the triumph over tragedy Multimedia slideshow Slideshow: The jazz scene

Ellis Marsalis, the patriarch of the famous Marsalis family, is looking forward to returning to the Pittsburgh area.

Things around New Orleans have been a bit slow since Hurricane Katrina ripped through the city and the region last year. His home in New Orleans' Uptown neighborhood was spared by Katrina, but a month later Hurricane Rita damaged part of the roof.

The pianist has been touring a little, but mostly he's been teaching part time at Loyola University of New Orleans and playing his regular gig at Snug's Harbor, one of the city's most popular jazz clubs.

Last December, Marsalis, his son Branford and pianist Harry Connick Jr. teamed with Habitat for Humanity to create a "Musicians Village" for displaced New Orleans musicians. The centerpiece will be the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.

"It's been tough around here," said the pianist from his home. "It's been tough for everyone and tougher for others."

Marsalis and his trio, which features his son Jason on drums and bassist Bill Huntington, will perform tonight through Sunday at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild.

The concert will also feature the music of Phillip Frazier and the dynamic Rebirth Brass Band and tunes from Grammy Award-winning guitarist Chris Thomas King.

Billed as a "Celebration of New Orleans Music," the concert is co-produced by the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans.

"It should be a lot of fun," said Marsalis. "I'm looking forward to coming back to Pittsburgh."

Marsalis, who last performed in the area in 2004 as part of Allegheny County's summer concert series, said he always wanted to become a musician.

"I didn't have sense enough to become an attorney or a lawyer," he said. "The truth is, it wasn't a common experience to become a doctor or lawyer. You either became a musician, teacher or grabbed a broom and a mop."

Marsalis started taking piano lessons at a young age, and quickly realized that he had an ear for music. But he didn't take the lessons too seriously until he found a teacher that taught him how to practice.

In school, he played clarinet and tenor saxophone, performing in local rhythm and blues bands.

After completing high school, he earned a music degree from Dillard University.

"I still hadn't got into jazz, so one Sunday I went to this jam session and I heard this tenor player and I decided right then that I had no business playing the tenor."

Marsalis returned to the piano, practicing daily.

"It was really piecemeal since it wasn't a profession," said Marsalis, referring to how he initially developed his skills. "If you're in a situation where's it's a profession, there's a sequence of events that occurs that's connected to jobs that you play.

"In other words, if you're a classical pianist and decided you wanted to chase concertos, there's a sequence of those that you work on. There's also people you can study with and there's competitions set up for that and you give your best shot to that music in some sequential order of study. With us in the jazz world, there was no profession. Sometimes I would be on a job and had to play some of Little Richard's stuff, or some of the shuffles that Fats Domino played, or I would play some blues with like Big Momma Thornton."

Looking back, Marsalis said the variety of jobs he played provided the experience he needed to develop as a musician.

"It wasn't sequenced in a way like European music is," he continued. "I am not saying it was bad, because kids today don't have that."

Marsalis wonders how young musicians will learn some of things he was able to grasp at an early age.

"I guess all I can say is, good luck," he continued.

After getting married and having kids, he started teaching.

"Fortunately, I was always teaching music," he said. "I didn't have to become a bad math teacher like some people, or a terrible English teacher."

Marsalis' first teaching job was at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. He joined the staff in 1973, a semester after the school opened. He remained for the next 12 years. NOCCA focuses on creative writing, visual arts, theater, dance and music.

"That was like a lab for me," said Marsalis. "I was there to deal primarily with jazz music. We were functioning with high schools students, giving them the opportunity to decide what they wanted to study."

Every student had to audition to get into the school.

"The school was like a community," he said. "Kids had to decide what discipline they were going to study. Some of these kids went on to great things."

Among NOCCA's more popular alumni are his sons, Branford, Wynton, Delfayeo and Jason, trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Nicholas Payton, saxophonist Donald Harrison and pianist Harry Connick Jr.

Wynton, Harrison and Blanchard would later perform in bands led by Pittsburgh drummer Art Blakey.

After leaving NOCCA, Marsalis spent the next four years teaching in the jazz studies program at Virginia Commonwealth University.

He returned to New Orleans to head the jazz department at the University of New Orleans.

Now, he is teaching part time and working on his music.

Is there anything he hasn't accomplished in music that he would like to? "I'd still like to be able to find a good singer, or two or three," said Marsalis.