| | MICHAEL MARCUS -8-25-52-multi-woodwind player.
Michael Marcus, has been an active member of the New York jazz scene for over 20 years. Since releasing his debut recording, "Under The Wire" (Enja,1991), he has continued to be part of the cutting edge in American improvised music, touring the festival and club circuits recently both in the US, Canada and Europe with his trio of bassist Tarus Mateen and drummers Jay Rosen or Nasheet Waits.
Michael now has 12 recordings as a leader, all on internationally recognized Jazz labels (Justin Time, SoulNote, Enja & Ayler Records).
Marcus has performed and recorded with: Albert King, Bobby Blue Bland(w/Mel Brown), Sonny Simmons (with whom he fronts the Cosmosamatics group), Jaki Byard, Rahn Burton, Billy Higgins, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Ted Daniel, Jymie Merritt, Alvin Fielder, Chris Parker, Oliver Truchot, Warren Smith, Oakland legend: Vince Wallace, Fred Hopkins, Philip Wilson, "Bishop" Norman Williams, B.J.PAPA, Clifford Barbaro, Masa Kamaguchi, Roy Campbell , Steve Neil, Larry Hancock, Mel Graves, Charles & Cody Moffett, Chris Sullivan, Reggie Nicholson, Carlos Ward, John Patton, Scott Colley, Curtis Lundy, Eddie Gladden, Cecil Wells & Bruce Edwards.
He has also been associated with the Makanda Ken McIntyre Ensemble, Grachan Moncur's big band, Zane Massey and the Liberation Suite , Jemeel Moondoc's JUS GREW Orchestra (w/Steve Swell, Bern Nix & Gerald Cleaver), trombonist Joe Bowie's Defunkt, and Saxemble (with Frank Lowe, James Carter & Cindy Blackman) and many more great artists, globally.
Michael, one of the last individuals to receive a performance grant from the NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) composed the string arrangements to his original music. These compositions were performed for the first time with a string quartet in November 1998 during a concert at the University of Memphis, as part of a Southern US tour and again in September 1999 at New York City Museum Of Modern Art.
A classic session of Michael's from 1993 was issued for the very first time entitled "Ithem" (Ayler Records) with bassist William Parker and the late drummer Denis Charles, and also, his first highly acclaimed unaccompanied recording "Speakin Out" (Drimala, 2002)
Michael (2005) has had the exceptional reward performing with the legendary drum master Edgar Bateman in a "duo" context, performing in ENGLAND at the "On The Outside Festival" (w/Elton Dean,Paul Rutherford,Joe Morris &Alan Silva) along with his continuation in touring/recording internationally with The Cosmosamatics (London Jazz Festival-Banlieues Bleues Festival (w/Andrew Cyrille) -Tampere Jazz Festival) and his quartet w/Ted Daniel (Blue Note-NYC).
In 2006 he will celebrate his new release on SoulNote "SOULIFICATIONS!!, a trio with both Tarus Mateen & Nasheet Waits.
Michael Marcus comes out of Coltrane, Kirk, and Dolphy, but has his own sound." -Downbeat Magazine
| |
