President Scott Cowen announced New Orleans musician Wynton Marsalis as the 2014 commencement speaker in an email to all students on Friday.

“One thing that has made commencement at Tulane the standard by which other university graduations are judged is the unique New Orleans tradition that flavors our celebration as we honor our graduates and their families,” Cowen said in the email. “No one embodies and articulates this tradition better than Wynton Marsalis.”

Marsalis, the son of famed pianist Elis Marsalis Jr., has won nine Grammy awards and he became the first jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music for “Blood on the Fields,” according to his website.

The announcement of this year’s commencement speaker was the latest announcement of any speaker in recent memory.

Tulane announced last year’s speaker, the Dalai Lama, on Nov. 19, 2012.

In 2012, Tulane made another March announcement when it announced EPA Administrator and Tulane graduate Lisa Jackson as the 2012 speaker on March 9, 2012.

Tulane announced Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman as the 2011 speaker on December 2010 and Emmy-award winning journalist Anderson Cooper as the 2010 speaker in January 2010.

The 2014 commencement ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. on May 17 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.