"Michael Marcus (August 25, 1952) is an American jazz clarinetist and multi-woodwind player - A clarinet, bass clarinet, octavin, tarogato, soprano saxophone; also tenor, baritone, bass, C melody, and straight alto (stritch), and saxello saxophones, composer and arranger. Since releasing his debut recording as a leader, "Under the Wire" for Enja Records in 1991, he has appeared on over thirty-five records for Soul Note, Justin' Time, Not Two, Boxholder, Ayler, Drimala, CIMP and Qwest/Warner.

He has composed over 125 original/recorded compositions. Marcus was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Grant. Marcus' first professional gigs were with Albert King and Bobby "Blue" Bland. Michael has recorded and toured with the Saxemble (Frank Lowe & James Carter) and with the great Mr. Jaki Byard. With Sonny Simmons, he is the co-leader of The Cosmosamatics with 9 recordings and multiple domestic and international tours. Michael performed in a duo context with master drum legend Edgar Bateman. Marcus and Ted Daniel comprise Duology, which has collaborated with Andrew Cyrille. Michael continues to record and tour with his own group.

He has performed/recorded with: Albert King (w/Harold Attyberry, Oliver Johnson), Bobby Blue Bland (w/Mel Brown, Wayne Bennett, Morris Atchison, Joe Hardin), Sonny Simmons, Jaki Byard Trio, Rahn Burton, Billy Higgins, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Santi De Briano, Ted Daniel, Henry Grimes, Nasheet Waits, Tarus Mateen, Jymie Merritt, Alvin Fielder, Chris Parker, Oliver Truchot, Neil Kirkwood, Warren Smith. Vince Wallace, Fred Hopkins, Philip Wilson, "Bishop" Norman Williams, B.J. PAPA, John Handy, Clifford Barbaro, Essiet Essiet, Masa Kamaguchi, Bob Cunningham, Roy Campbell, Butch Morris, Steve Neil, Eddie Henderson, Larry Hancock, Joe LaBarbra, Jay Rosen, Mel Graves, Charles & Cody Moffett, Chris Sullivan, Reggie Nicholson, Carlos Ward, Aaron James, Radu Williams, Matt Brewer, Big Joe Turner, Hill Greene, Butch Morris, Christian Ravaglioli, Jerry McKinney, Charlie Kohlhase, Drori Mondlak, Itaru Oki, Makoto Sato, Erich Hunt, Tim Price, Muziki Roberson, Carlton Holmes, Aruan Ortiz, Keith Saunders, Sam Dockery, Greg Murphy, Dwayne Burno, Mark Helias, Juni Booth, Eric Zinman, Eric Revis, Richard Clements, Hideji Taninaka, Herbie Lewis, Joe Bonner, Sid Simmons, Taru Alexander, Andrew Cyrille, Roswell Rudd, Rashaan Carter, Antoine Roney, Grachan Moncur, Francois Grillot, Eric McPherson, John Bacon Jr., Greg Piontek, Vincent Chancey, Henry Threadgill, Rudy Lawless, Leon Joyce, Daniel Levin, Bob Arkin, Tom Bruno, Art Lewis, Peter Herbert, Emil Ram, Perry Robinson, John Patton, Scott Colley, Curtis Lundy, Bob Feldman, Dave Burrell, Xavier Davis, Gene Jackson, Darrel Green, Emanuel Harrold, Reggie Workman, Tyler Mitchell, Sonny Rhodes, Donald Smith, Eddie Gladden, Dominic Duval, Cecil Wells, Newman T. Baker, Georg Wolf, Bruce Edwards, Sadiq Abdushahid, Chris Amberger, Joe McPhee, Mort Weiss, Don Friedman Trio, Heshima Mark Williams, Ron McClure, Theo Jorgensmann, Jonathan Robinson, Mike Boone, Luther Thomas, Sandor Moss, Zarak Simmons, Grant Levin, Brian Ho, Don Alberts, Kiane Zawadi, Azar Lawrence, Larry Smith, Gary Strauss, Sylvia Cuenca, Matt Vinders, Pheeron Aklaff and Wade Barnes.

Also, with Makanda Ken McIntyre Ensemble, Grachan Moncur's Big Band, Zane Massey's "Liberation Suite", Jemeel Moondoc's JUS GREW Orchestra (w/Steve Swell, Bern Nix, Chad Taylor, Gerald Cleaver, N. Breedlove & Tyronne Hill), The Saxemble (w/ Frank Lowe, James Carter & Cindy Blackman) - (2005), Joe Bowie's Defunkt, and performing in a duet with drum great, Edgar Bateman and many more great artists.

Michael in 1997-8 had the pleasure to record & tour with the late great Mr. Jaki Byard! He is extremely active in the 2000's. Co-leading the "Cosmosamatics" w/Sonny Simmons (touring & recording) - the Cosmosamatics have released eight CDs. Mr. Marcus has seen the release of "Ithem" for Ayler Records - a 1993 date with William Parker and Denis Charles, his first unaccompanied recording "Speakin' Out"(Drimala, 2002). He also cut two trio recordings for SoulNote Records "Blue Reality" and "Soulifications"(w/Tarus Mateen & Jay Rosen or w/Nasheet Waits). Current projects are: "Duology", an innovative duo of brass and Bb clarinet where he joins forces with Ted Daniel on their new release "Duology/Andrew Cyrille" 2012 on Jazzwerkstatt! Duology "Golden Atoms" on SoulNote (2008), also "Michael Marcus & Magic Door", a new and flexible group representing Michael's release for Not Two, "The Magic Door". Michael is currently focusing on his recordings and performances with the Bb clarinet, exclusively. While Michael continues to grow into new visions in the new millenium, he is now also presenting his music in the format of the traditional quartet/quintet of- "Clarinet-piano-bass-drums & percussion", keeping a flame alive! This group in includes: Jessie Crawford, John Austria, Charlie Taylor, amongst the members. Michael's newest release is now also out on Not Two Records "Lotus Symphony"(www.nottwo.com-Nov.2008) w/Taru Alexander, John Austria, Rashaan Carter, Radu Ben Judah, Jay Rosen & special guest: Antoine Roney! (2009)

Jazz clarinetist, Michael Marcus' latest NYC performances have included - Alan Jay Palmer, Rashaan Carter, Russell Carter, Dezron Douglas, Francois Grillot, David Bryant, Denton Darien, Benito Gonzalez & trumpeter Lenwood "Woody" Turner, performing his latest compositions in his quartet! 2010: The Cosmosamatics tour! 2011: Michael releases "For Yes!" on NotTwo. Invited to be part of Craig Harris' historic concert, "Breathe" (10/16/16)."

-Michael Marcus Website (http://michaelmarcusmusic.com/)
9/20/2023

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"John Austria is a jazz pianist who has been performing and teaching professionally in New York City for over ten years. He performs regularly with the Sonny Simmons Quintet, Michael Marcus Quintet, and Makane Kouyate's West African/Jazz fusion ensemble "Denbaya". John also runs a weekly jam session at "Boom" restaurant in Soho. He has been teaching with the New York Jazz Workshop for over a year now, and has also taught at the non-profit music school Upbeat NYC for several years.

Born and raised in NYC, John had the good fortune to learn jazz as it has been passed down from generation to generation in an oral tradition. Studying under the mentorship of the great jazz pianist Mike Longo, John absorbed the musical knowledge Mike had learned playing with musicians such as Cannonball Adderley, Roy Eldridge, Paul Chambers, and Dizzy Gillespie (in whose band Longo was the pianist and musical director for over 15 years). Alongside his studies with Longo, John also performed with the semi-professional Laguardia High School Big Band, under the direction of Bob Stewart. Stewart, one of the great tuba players in jazz history, passed on his years of experience playing with Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, David Murray, Taj Mahal, and Freddie Hubbard, among many others. In this ensemble, John performed with Branford Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Gary Smulyan, Ray Barretto, Wynton Marsalis, and Randy Brecker. John received his Bachelor's degree in music from The City College of New York, with a focus in music theory. As a teacher, John focuses on cultivating each student's unique musical voice, while passing on the oral traditions of the great jazz masters."

-New York Jazz Workshop (https://newyorkjazzworkshop.com/faculty/john-austria/)
9/20/2023

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Rashaan Carter (* around 1986 in Washington, DC) is an American jazz musician (double bass, also electric bass) of modern jazz.Live and actCarter grew up in the Washington area and comes from a musical family: his father is a saxophonist, his mother puts together jazz programs for the radio. He first played various instruments before choosing the double bass. After high school, he moved to New York City to study with Buster Williams and Reggie Workman at New School ; he also took lessons from Ron Carter. Since 2006 he has worked with Michael Marcus (The Magic Door, 2006), Wallace Roney, Cindy Blackman Jure Pukl, Sonny Simmons, Gary Thomas, Frank Lacy, Raynald Colom, Marc Cary, Brandee Younger and Mark Weinstein, among others. He also toured with Gary Thomas, Marc Cary, Antoine Roney, and David Murray; He was also a member of the Aruán Ortiz Quartet, Matteo Fraboni Quintet, Takuya Kuroda Sextet and imWayne Escoffery Quintet. In the field of jazz, he was involved in 19 recording sessions between 2006 and 2018, most recently with Josh Evans (Hope And Despair, 2014) and Maria Grand (Magdalena, 2018). Currently, it belongs to the Theo Hill on Quartet, on the album Interstellar Adventures he sang (2018)."-Wikipedia (https://second.wiki/wiki/rashaan_carter)
9/20/2023

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Jay Rosen (born November 20, 1961) is an American jazz drummer. He is a member of Trio X with Joe McPhee and Dominic Duval and performs in Cosmosomatics with Sonny Simmons.

At age 10, Rosen became interested in jazz drumming after seeing Tony Williams perform with Sonny Rollins. He took lessons from Tracy Alexander, son of Mousey Alexander (with an occasional lesson from the elder Alexander). Later, he would study briefly with Barry Altschul.

Around age 18, Rosen became a professional musician. He worked at studios, weddings, and cocktail lounges in rock, rhythm and blues, country, jazz, and Brazilian music. His recording career in improvised music began in the mid-1990s, when he recorded Split Personality (GM Records) with Mark Whitecage and Dominic Duval. He began an association with the CIMP label in 1996, and has also recorded for Cadence). Todd Jenkins describes Rosen and Duval as the "house rhythm section" for CIMP, given the number of recordings on which they have appeared.:231

Since 1998, Rosen has performed with Joe McPhee and Dominic Duval in Trio X.:360 In 2000, he joined Cosmosomatics, a quartet with saxophonists Sonny Simmons and Michael Marcus and bassist William Parker.:114

Rosen describes himself as "a musician who plays percussion" rather than "'just a drummer.'" He uses a set of small cymbals that he approaches "like a string player, or a reed player," and his drum kit includes objects such as a boat propeller and a set of organ pipes that he activates with foot-driven bellows. Although Rosen is associated with free improvisation, he questions whether the music he plays is "free:"

"While 'free music' indicates that you're free to play whatever you want to play and you're not following chord progressions, and there's no time, there's no this, no that...The way I've been playing free music, with my constituents, doesn't really follow those guidelines. When we play, it's very well put together, in actuality. We're not just blowing to blow; there's listening going on, there's concerted effort at construction and organization, at putting things together - at minute levels - that hardly go on in 'free music' anymore."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Rosen_(drummer))
9/20/2023

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.