"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."
-- Steve
Silberman, Wired Magazine
Mitch
Marcus Quintet plays Charles Mingus
Tenor saxophonist, pianist, composer, native New Yorker, and former Bay
Area
resident, Mitch Marcus is an active performer who
plays and tours with many groups whose styles span a wide range of
musical genres from progressive jazz to afro-beat, from the folk music
of 60’s icon Donovan to accompanying dance classes for Alvin Ailey
American Dance Theater and the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Mitch is a prolific composer for his own jazz
quartet and quintet and the MMQ + 13 big band, for which he won a
“Subito” grant from the American Composer’s Forum. Mitch has also been
commissioned by the DeYoung Museum in San
Francisco, and Oakland’s ‘Counterpointe’ dance company.
In 2013 he was given the honor of opening the SF Jazz Center's
Joe Henderson lab, performing an expansive concert of Joe Henderson’s
music.
Mitch holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the Indiana
University School of Music at Bloomington, where he studied with David
Baker and Tom Walsh.
He has appeared at Chez Hanny previously with the Mitch Marcus Quintet,
and the Aaron Germain / Dan Zemelman Quartet.
http://www.mitchmarcusmusic.com/
Originally from France, also a former Bay Area resident,
saxophonist/composer Sylvain Carton currently
resides in Los Angeles.
An accomplished saxophonist and guitarist, Sylvain tours and records
regularly with a number of groups representing a variety of musical
genres and traditions, such as Beats Antique, The Japonize Elephants,
The Mitch Marcus Quintet, Aphrodesia, Space Blaster, Khi Darag, Lord
Loves a Working Man, John Vanderslice, Maureen and the Mercury Five,
Carolyna Picknick, and The Sylvain Carton Quartet.
As a composer, Carton writes extensively for The Japonize Elephants, an
eclectic ensemble who like to refer to their music as cinematic
old-time eastern honk orchestral music. He also writes for
his own jazz quartet, in addition to the Mitch Marcus Quintet, the MMQ
+
13 big band, Carolyna Picknick, and the 12-piece afro-funk ensemble
Aphrodesia. His compositions for big band won a "Subito" grant from the
American Composer's Forum.
Sylvain Carton holds a BM in Jazz Performance from the Indiana
University School of Music at Bloomington, where he studied with David
Baker, Eugene Rousseau, Tom Walsh, and Shirley Diamond, as well as an
M.A. in music composition from UC Santa Cruz.
He has appeared at Chez Hanny previously with the Mitch Marcus Quintet.
http://sylvaincarton.com/
Guitarist Michael Abraham was raised in the
suburban marshlands of post-industrial Pittsburgh, PA. He became
interested in the electric guitar as a result of listening to rock
music during his early morning paper route. Later, his dad decided to
play the kid some James Brown and Frank Zappa. During a summer
landscaping gig, Abraham performed high-incline shrub maintenance and
slope mowing while listening to Stravinsky.
Yet later, young Abraham was seduced by the forward-leaning jazz of
Miles, Coltrane, Ornette, and Mingus.
Known for his ability to bridge diverse styles with a creative edge,
Abraham keeps busy as a valuable session player in the Bay Area and has
recently relocated to Los Angeles.
His work includes performances, recording, and touring with 60’s
rock-icon Donovan, the hit musicals ‘Wicked’ and ‘American Idiot’,
Grammy award-winner Mads Tolling, SFJazz,
Dayna Stephens, Josh Roseman, Mitch Marcus, and surf-rockers
Spaceblaster.
He has appeared at Chez Hanny previously with the Mitch Marcus Quintet.
http://abratunes.com/George Ban-Weiss is a USC engineering professor by
day, and a professional upright and electric bass player by night.
Previously based in the San Francisco Bay area, George has had the
opportunity to play at many high profile venues including Yoshi’s,
Herbst Theater, The Warfield Theater, The Great American Music Hall,
and The Palace of Fine Arts, as well as the 55 Bar and Small’s in New
York
City.
His musical associations include Mads Tolling, Eric Garland, Henry
Hung,
Colin Hogan, Kasey Knudsen, Jazz Mafia, Telepathy, Yancie Taylor, The
Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, and The Realistic Orchestra.
He has appeared at Chez Hanny previously with the Mitch Marcus Quintet.
www.georgebanweiss.com
San Francisco drummer Eric Garland began as a kid
in a small town
in the California
Sierra Nevadas, playing grooves around the house on chairs, boxes, pots
and pans, using hands or wooden kitchen spoons. He got his first drum
set when he was 10 years old.
He has worked with Roy Ayers (with Jazz Mafia Symphony), Bobby McFerrin
(with Brass Monkey Brass Band), hip hop artist Lyrics Born, and 60’s
icon Donovan.
Current musical projects revolve around Karina Denike, Realistic
Orchestra/Treat Street Social Club, accordionist Rob Reich, Tin Cup
Serenade, Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, Brass Monkey Brass Band, and
violinist Mads Tolling. He co-leads the Klaxon Mutant Allstars with
trumpeter Henry Hung, and
his own sextet, the Eric Garlands Hodge Podge Ensemble, and runs the
jazz jam session at Amnesia.