CHOPS HAVE NEVER REALLY IMPRESSED ME. AS MY SAX TEACHER USED TO SAY, ‘MOST MUSICIANS ARE LIKE A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN WHO JUST KEEPS ON CONSTANTLY CHATTERING ABOUT HOW GORGEOUS SHE IS. YOU FEEL LIKE SAYING ‘JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME LOOK AT YOU.’
THAT’S HOW I FEEL ABOUT HORN PLAYERS. IF YOU’VE GOT AN ATTRACTIVE TONE, I’LL HANG IN WITH JUST ABOUT ANYTHING YOU SAY. THE PROBLEM IS THAT MOST CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS HAVE SACRIFICED TONE TO THE IDOL OF TECHNICAL PROWESS. HAVEN’T THEY EVER HEARD THE OLD SONG, “T’AINT WHAT YOU SAY, BUT THE WAY HOW ‘CHA SAY IT”?
TRUMPETER MARQUIS HILL IS ONE OF THE FEW WHO GETS IT. HE’S PUT OUT A HANDFUL OF ALBUMS ON HIS OWN OF ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS, AND ‘THE POET’ REALLY GOT MY ATTENTION.
SINCE THEN, HE WON THE 2014 THELONIOUS MONK AWARD FOR HIS TRUMPET WORK, AND WITH HIS LATEST ALBUM, THE WAY WE PLAY, HE’S BEEN ABLE TO GET DOWNBEAT’S RECOGNITION FOR THE #1 SPOT OF ‘TALENT DESERVING WIDER RECOGNITION’ ON HIS HORN.
HE RECENTLY TOURED IN LA, WITH HIS SWINGING BAND, AND HIS HORN HAD TO BE EXPERIENCED IN CONCERT TO BE TRULY APPRECIATED. IT HAD A WARMTH THAT WOULD HAVE MADE ART FARMER GREEN WITH ENVY; SOFT AS IN A MORNING SUNRISE.
WE RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH THE TRUMPETER, SHOW SHARED WHERE HE’S FROM AND WHERE HE WANTS TO GO.
YOU’RE FROM CHICAGO.
Born and raised. I am a White Sox fan! South Side; can’t help it.
HOW DID YOU BECOME A JAZZ FAN?
I went to Dixon Elementary School in Chicago. It’s one of the only elementary schools, to this day, that has a jazz program. They really emphasize jazz to younger students, and I was fortunate enough to go there. My band director was Diane Ellis.
I joined band in 4th grade and got into the jazz band in the 5th grade, where she gave me my first jazz record. It was a Lee Morgan album, Candy. I fell in love with this music very young. I was 10 or 11 and it blew my mind. I fell in love with what I was hearing, and since then I’ve pursued the music.
YOUR ALBUMS SHOW THAT YOU HAVE OBVIOUSLY SPENT TIME WORKING ON YOUR TONE. WHO STRESSED THAT TO YOU?
All the teachers in Chicago I’ve had emphasize that. My first teacher was Tito Carillo, a great Chicago player. Also Miss Ellis and my high school teacher, Bill McLellan all stressed to me that it was important to have your own voice and develop your own sound. I’ve been trying to capture that since Day One.
HOW DO YOU DEVELOP YOUR OWN SOUND?
A couple of things. The first thing that I did was that I tried to mimic someone, like Lee Morgan. One other player who’s sound and playing I liked was Donald Byrd. You try to mimic their sounds to learn the vocabulary and language and from that you start to create your own.
I would transcribe a lot; then I would also try playing “free.” I tell a lot of my students today, “Just take your horn, don’t think about anything and just play melodies; the first thing that comes to your mind.” I think that really helped me get my own sound as well.
IT’S ONE THING TO PLAY JAZZ IN SCHOOL, BUT ANOTHER TO MAKE IT A COMMITMENT AS A CAREER. WHEN DID YOU TURN THE CORNER TO MAKE IT YOUR CALLING?
I would probably say my sophomore year in high school. I knew then that I wanted to do something music related. I actually went to college for music education. I went to college knowing I wanted to teach music, even though right now in my career I’m playing more. Still, one of my main goals is to work at a university and be the head of a jazz program.
WITH SUCH A HISTORY OF GREAT TRUMPET PLAYERS, DIDN’T IT SEEM LIKE A DAUNTING TASK TO THINK “I CAN COME UP WITH SOMETHING NEW”? DON’T YOU WONDER WHY PEOPLE SHOULD LISTEN TO YOU AND NOT AN OLD LEE MORGAN ALBUM?
I talk to a lot of my musician friends about this; most people come to that point. I think I may have, but I just look straight past that because I loved it so much. I just love playing music, and I believe that life is doing what you love. Especially if you can make a living. I just keep going forward, knowing that it’s eventually going to work out.
WHY DID YOU NAME YOUR FIRST ALBUM “NEW GOSPEL”?
“New Gospel” was the title of the first track, and it set the tone. It was the first song I ever wrote when I started to compose. I wanted to pay homage to that tune.
DID YOU GROW UP IN THE CHURCH AND LISTEN TO GOSPEL MUSIC?
I did. My mother was a church goer and I was raised in the church until I was in high school. Then she gave me the freedom to go and find my own church. I did and found younger musicians there. You can find some really talented musicians in church.
HOW DID GOING TO CHURCH AFFECT YOU AS A MAN?
It instilled in me a lot of morals. I learned a lot of this especially from my mom; she taught me about morals growing up. I was raised in a single parent home, and watching her with what she did for me in the home all alone in the South Side of Chicago was simply amazing. She did that to make me what I was going to be, so I learned a lot from her.
YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY MELD JAZZ WITH RAP AND HIP HOP. HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA TO DO THAT?
Again, it had to do with my mom. Being in a household where she played really good music; all of the Motown artists. I would walk around the house and hear Marvin Gaye, Barry White, The Temptations and all of those R&B/Motown artists. I think that just naturally comes out in my music.
Another thing that I’ve noticed for hip hop and spoken words; it just fits so naturally for the music that I write. Being born when I was, and growing up in this era it’s just natural for me to want to incorporate it in my music. So, I think was a natural thing to do and it helped me get my voice, my sound and my music across.
HOW DID YOU WIN THE THELONIOUS MONK AWARD?
That was a crazy, crazy process. If I could pick one thing that made me stand out versus the other players, it would be my sound.
Also my song selection. I actually went into the competition and played all jazz standards. I wanted the process to be as relaxed as possible, and I thought that we should all just get on stage and play songs that I’m comfortable with, songs that the rhythm section is comfortable with and just have a really good time. I think that went off really well.
BECAUSE OF THAT AWARD, YOU’RE NOW ON A MAJOR LABEL, CONCORD. DOES THAT FEEL DIFFERENT FROM BEFORE?
Definitely; my first four projects were independent 955. I put them all out myself, and it taught me so much about the business. Now, this one is on a label, so I have to stand back a little bit and let the label do its job, so it’s been a different experience, and it’s been teaching me different things than when I was doing it independently. It’s a different ballpark.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN WHEN YOU DID IT ALL YOURSELF?
It’s hard, but it’s very rewarding. Having the label definitely helps in terms of promoting the record; sending things out to the radio stations.
One thing when you do it independently; you get a certain sense of satisfaction just knowing that you put your all into it, and that it all belongs to you 1052. It’s your brainchild.
YOUR BAND IS CALLED THE “BLACKTET”. THAT MUST GET SOME RAISED EYEBROWS.
Sometimes we do. When I was thinking of forming my group in college, my friend Jared Shield (who’s a really good trumpet player) at the time had a band called the Jared Shield Bluetet. At the time I was just about to start my own group as well, and I didn’t want to call it “The Marquis Hill Project” or “Quintet”, so I took a cue off my buddy and called it the Blacktet, as he had the Bluetet.
That’s how I came up with the group, but of course, in this day and age everyone thinks that it’s race related and all kinds of other things.
IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT A NAME LIKE BASSIST JOSHUA RAMOS IS GOING TO BE MAKING A STATEMENT LIKE THAT!
Exactly! (laughs)
YOU GUYS ARE FROM CHICAGO; HAVE YOU EVER TOURED THE STATES OR EUROPE?
We originally were in Chicago, but we’re now based all over the States. My saxophonist and I live in New York; my vibraphonist lives in LA right now. Justin Thomas; he’s making a lot of noise out there. We first played around the Midwest; that’s how we got our following.
Now we’re branching out. We have our first European tour in the fall. We’ve played New York and DC. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s all baby steps.
HOW DOES THE PIZZA COMPARE IN NEW YORK?
New York definitely has it’s pizza, but nothing compares with Chicago pizza. I love Lou Malnati’s.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING A JAZZ MUSICIAN?
Just being a musician in general has a freedom to it. When I play my horn and I play music, there’s a certain liberation I feel. I can express myself in a way that I can’t express in words. For me it’s very liberating to create music and to touch people through music.
WHAT FRUSTRATES YOU ABOUT IT?
The lifestyle at times. A lot of travelling and late nights, but that comes with it. I’ve grown to love that, too.
YOUR LATEST ALBUM CONTAINS STANDARDS INSTEAD OF ORIGINALS, LIKE YOUR OTHER ALBUMS.
That was my goal of the record. I knew that my past four projects were all originals and I actually planned these even before the Monk Competition. I knew that I wanted to take a handful of standards to showcase my voice and my band’s sound and put our twist and our rendition on these standards. So I’ve been planning this for awhile.
HAVE YOU AND YOUR BAND ACHIEVED THE SOUND AND STYLE THAT YOU’VE DESIRED?
I think so, but we’re still striving. The greats, like Dizzy Gillespie, went to the graves saying that they were still searching and still trying to get better. I think we have a pretty unique and tight sound, but we are all still searching.
HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS?
I want to be doing exactly what I’m doing now, but on a higher level. Producing music, collaborating with like-minded artists and also teaching at a university in their school of music.
JUDGING BY HIS LATEST ALBUM AND THE EXCITEMENT CREATED BY CONCERT PERFORMANCES, MARQUIS HILL’S ‘HIGHER LEVEL’ IS SOON GOING TO BE REACHED. CHECK HIM OUT NEXT TIME HE COMES TO TOWN FOR A NIGHT OF WARM BREEZES FROM HIS HORN.
www.marquishill.com