Photos of Wynton Marsalis can give the impression of a man with a cool demeanor. Not in that Miles Davis or Dizzy Gillespie kind of way, but in an urbane, upright, elegant and well-scrubbed way.

Talking to the 45-year-old jazz trumpeter leads one to think otherwise.

Beneath the seemingly detached calm is a torrent of passion -- for music, education, the community, the arts and the synergy among them.

Just ask him about where music seems to be going, and the passion bubbles to the surface.

Ask him about educating black children to the history and sources of African-American music and culture, and one feels the heat.

Bring up the recovery effort in New Orleans, and the devotion is prevalent in his comments about the failures of government to carry out its promises to the people there.

But it is mostly in talking about the music that Marsalis’ tone seems clearest.

For Marsalis, the arts in general, and music in particular, are the keys to maintaining black traditions and creating new ones. And exposing black children to culture will greatly affect how the black community will grow and thrive.

It doesn’t matter if that exposure is to the blues, jazz, R&B or classical music or whether it is to the visual or literary arts. The point is to allow black children to see that the world goes beyond their neighborhoods, that there have been great black artists before them and that they can join that impressive group.

“The black middle class people have kind of let the people in the community down,” Marsalis told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “You don’t have to like it, but it’s up to you to expand the horizons of our kids.

“We need to go out and support these things and make them a part of our lives,” he said of the arts. “Be a part of the renaissance. Don’t just surrender the arts to white people.”

As a point, he notes the lack of history among many musicians today, especially some members of the hip-hop generation. Many, he said, “lack the knowledge about our music.” He equates hip-hop that denigrates blacks to a modern form of a minstrel show, saying that too many artists have forgotten what exactly drives black music.

“The groove identifies the dance, and the dance is the vitality of the piece,” he said. “You don’t have to degrade anybody.”

It’s a point Marsalis has been making with his music since he released his first album. His latest album, “From Plantation to Penitentiary,” echoes some of those same themes, tracking the journey of black Americans from slavery to today.

Now, as artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, Marsalis is involved in numerous education programs that introduce music to children. Whether it is in the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged streets of New Orleans, or the boroughs of New York City. He and the people at Jazz at Lincoln Center participate in more than 20 educational programs.

“We are always about the spirit of the community,” he said.

That community is global and ever expanding.

One of his more recent works, “Congo Square,” reflects that sense of global community, while giving a nod to the merging of historical and modern.

“Congo Square” is a collaboration between Marsalis and Ghanaian percussionist Yacub Addy. It features the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Addy’s percussion and vocal ensemble Odadaa!.

The piece, a sprawling work, was inspired by the storied, centuries-old New Orleans marketplace where African slaves were allowed to gather on Sundays to play music, sing and dance in the 1700s and 1800s. It is being presented in a 13-city tour that began on June 14 in Rochester, N.Y., and will end June 28 in Montreal.

Marsalis, who met Addy about 14 years ago, said “Congo Square” was a long time coming. While the two had talked about creating a jazz suite that merged the rhythms of the Ghanaian percussionists with traditional jazz, it was something that would have to wait.

For starters, Marsalis took four or five years to study Addy’s work. The problem was Odadaa! played in 6/8 time, Marsalis said, though it did not sound that way. That sometimes made it difficult to understand each other’s rhythms.

But after some give and take, it all came together, and “Congo Square” premiered in 2006 in the section of Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans that had hosted those Sunday African musical festivals.

“Congo Square," which Marsalis calls a “veritable festival,” has been tweaked since it was first performed, and several pieces have been narrowed down. Still, the listener gets a strong piece that includes songs about children, women, men and other subjects, as well as a taste of the blues and a little bit of “church.”

It is the perfect piece for Marsalis, merging his love of traditional African and African-American music with a sense of community and education.

It was also fitting that it was first heard in New Orleans, during a one-week residency by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra about eight months after Hurricane Katrina hit the city. While many people shied away from New Orleans, Marsalis and company, who had planned their trip before the storm, decided to honor their engagement as a way to help heal the city.

He has continued in that vain.

Since the hurricane, Marsalis has worked with the Higher Ground Relief Fund, helping to raise $3.4 million, about $2.5 million of which has been distributed. 

“We have a long way to go,” Marsalis said of his hometown’s recovery. “The city has been slow to respond.”

But Marsalis is optimistic that the city will make a recovery.

Just as he is optimistic about the state of black music in America and the direction it will take over the years. 

“Blacks," he said, "are resilient people."