Marcus Shelby

Marcus Shelby Keeps Jazz Orchestra Rollingsonicnet.com : Jazz News

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Marcus Shelby Keeps Jazz Orchestra Rolling

Bay Area bassist's big band survives against odds.

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We've been lucky, because it's a management nightmare to keep a big band together. - Marcus Shelby.

I'd written for small combos and trios and done some chamber work, said Shelby, 33.But I'd never done much orchestral writing for jazz.So I began developing music and putting together an ensemble of great local musicians. Shelby took advantage of the many musicians he'd worked with as music director of the Oakland-based Savage Jazz Dance Company and as a scorer for independent film projects.

Unlike a community big band that shows up only for gigs, Shelby's group is committed to improvement.It's been part of our life for the last year, he said.We rehearse once a week and have maybe two or three gigs at different places.We've been lucky, because it's a management nightmare to keep a big band together..

The Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra's highest-profile gig has been at Yoshi's in Oakland, California.But the band regularly plays Thursday nights at Bruno's and Saturdays at Butterfly, a pair of San Francisco restaurants.

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Shelby was born in Anchorage, Alaska, but grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, surrounded by the blues and gospel music.He joined his junior high school's jazz band when his military father was reassigned to Sacramento, California, took up double bass and continued to sing and play in church.

He moved to Southern California after turning 20.I learned about music publishing, production and songwriting in L.A., Shelby said.I had always written music, but I never knew it could make money for me. In Los Angeles Shelby wrote music for theater and such films as John Singleton's Higher Learning and Desmond Nakano's White Man's Burden..

He also discovered drummer Billy Higgins' World Stage jazz workshop in 1990.I hung out there day and night, Shelby recalled.

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In 1991 Shelby won the Charles Mingus Scholarship to the California Institute of the Arts and studied with bassist Charlie Haden and flutist James Newton.Two years later he became music director for the Jazzantiqua Dance and Music Ensemble.

Settling in San Francisco in 1996, Shelby now divides his time between Northern and Southern California.He works with both the Savage and Jazzantiqua companies, composes, participates in the San Francisco Jazz Organization's educational outreach programs, runs his record label, and leads his Jazz Orchestra and trio.

I'm glad he's well-established in the Bay Area, said Newton, who remembers him as a dedicated CalArts student.

Yeah, I love music, Shelby said.But we've got to keep on moving forward.I try to do that within the language of jazz..

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Marcus Shelby divides his time between musical projects in Northern and Southern California.