Marquis Hill

Award-winning trumpeter, composer and bandleader Marquis Hill, widely acclaimed for his soulful, eclectic modern jazz sensibility, is proud to present Composers Collective: Beyond the Jukebox, a new album celebrating the compositions of others: in particular, a group of cherished colleagues and friends, many of them fellow Chicagoans, invited by Hill to compose a piece for the album with him specifically in mind. In addition to six of Hill’s compositions, the program includes pieces by Ernest Dawkins, Gary Bartz, Jeff Parker, Marcus Strickland, SABA, Geof Bradfield and Matt Gold, as well as the members of Hill’s core quintet: vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Michael King, bassist Junius Paul and drummer Corey Fonville.

“I was thinking about the tradition in jazz where Dexter Gordon would record a Lee Morgan composition, or Freddie Hubbard would record a Wayne Shorter composition,” muses Hill. “I started to wonder, ‘When did we stop doing that, playing each other’s music?’ You learn so much playing other artists’ compositions. I thought it would be dope if I challenged myself to reach out to colleagues and have them specifically write a tune with me in mind. I got so much different music back from all these composers, and my challenge was to shape it into a Marquis Hill project. There will definitely be a second volume.”

Following up such earlier releases as Rituals + Routines, Soul Sign, Modern Flows, Love Tape and New Gospel Revisited, Hill continues with Composers Collective to blend elements of post-bop and contemporary jazz with R&B, hip-hop and other flavors, in the firm belief that Black music is one vast continuum. “I studied and lived the music and realized that it all comes from the same tree,” Hill declares. “All I want to do is make something that really resonates with people. It might have aspects that sound like Kendrick Lamar or Ray Charles, or ’70s soul—the first single ‘Pretty For the People’ takes me back to The Stylistics. It’s a mosaic of all this great music that I’ve always loved.”