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09/05 Friday
7:00 PM Mitch Marcus Quintet
Mitch Marcus founded the Mitch Marcus Quintet in 1999. From post-apocalyptic jazz to scintillating trance hypnotism, the Mitch
Marcus Quintet delivers a unique brand of original music, taking you through a labyrinth of ever-shifting textures, comprised of some
of the SF Bay Area's finest musicians, this dynamic collective features the extended compositions of saxophonists Marcus and Sylvain
Carton, as well as the rumbling opuses of drummer Ches Smith.
The members of the Quintet also play in a diverse array of Bay Area and National/International bands, such as Donovan, Marc Ribot,
Grachan Moncur III, Stanley, Trevor Dunn's Convulsant Trio, Kipple, Secret Chiefs 3, Good for Cows, Japonize Elephants, Realistic
Orchestra, Matt Small Chamber Ensemble, Ben Adams Quintet, Nathan Clevenger group, and Shotgun Wedding Hiphop Symphony,
The Mitch Marcus Quintet won "Best Jazz Group 2006" from the SF WEEKLY
Mitch Marcus has been an integral part of the Bay Area music scene, arriving in 1998 after graduating from The Indiana University
School of Music with a BM in Jazz Studies. Contributions to The Mitch Marcus Quintet and its offspring, The Mitch Marcus Quintet +
13, include 3 albums and over 50 different compositions ranging from straight-ahead jazz to complex harmonic/rhythmic endeavors
and a multi-movement suite. These original compositions are unique in that they allow the soloists to navigate non-traditional terri-
tory and find new ground to play within; as well as create distinctive song formats dictated by the melody. Mitch's composition
partner and co-creator/co-leader, Sylvain Carton, have 10 years of playing and writing experience together, creating a viable
partnership in the Bay Area music scene.
www.mitchmarcusmusic.com
www.myspace.com/mitchmarcusquintet
Written By: Steve Silberman, contributing editor - Wired Magazine
The Mitch Marcus Quintet plays 21st century jazz: adventurous music that
swings with all the muscularity and verve of pioneers like Mingus, Monk, and
Rollins, but pays tribute to that glorious past by daring to advance the sweet
science of collective improvisation into the future.
The quintet's influences range freely through the last few decades of musical
exploration – you can hear everything in it from the luminous harmonies of
Ellington and Strayhorn to the on-a-dime turnarounds of Ornette's groups to
Zappa's perpetually surprising melodic inventions – but they sound like no one
but themselves, the sign of true innovators
These qualities of freshness and boldness shouldn't be as rare as they are; but
Marcus and company have happily freed themselves from the deadly reverence
for previously-discovered territory that drags down many younger jazz players
these days. The Special is music that reawakens the hip listener to the potential of
the vast undiscovered terrain ahead. The album also boasts the singularly warm,
organic, and punchy production aesthetic of Stephen Barncard, an
underappreciated genius who has specialized in drawing out the full
embodiment of his musicians' imaginations for over three decades now.
Classic Barncard projects like the Grateful Dead's American Beauty and David
Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name established new high-water
marks for the recording of acoustic guitars and vocals in their day; it's
wonderful to hear on The Special how readily Barncard's uncompromising
commitment to the natural sounds of well-played instruments in an uncluttered
ambience translates to contemporary jazz.
The poet Ezra Pound's challenge to his generation of writers was to always
"Make it new." The Mitch Marcus Quintet has taken up that challenge with the
perfect balance of control and abandon, which is the very essence of jazz. In a
world of play-it-safe hybrids of tired forms and well-intentioned-buttepid
homages to the great ones, Marcus and his colleagues are the real thing.
Mitch Marcus is one of those freak
genius types. A virtuosic saxophonist
and dynamic composer, he has a
wide-open ear, a deep respect for
jazz tradition, and a fearless creative
spirit.
East Bay Express, Sam Prestianni
Mitch Marcus Quintet One of the Bay
Area's most riotously swinging young jazz
groups, the quartet serves up post-bop
with an array of jagged rhythms. But just
when the sound becomes reckless, they
connect the dots brilliantly.
Daniel King, San Francisco Chronicle