Quarantine Concert Series_#221: Marrow Quartet
Marrow Quartet
“The quality of deep attention, embodied in this moment, enlivens all music with a timeless quality that transcends genre and classification. Free improvisation is a spontaneous and collective approach to musical expression that envelops the audience into the creative process. Free improvisation is therefore not a style of music, but rather a posture of possibility — a sonic invocation, exalting the present moment through the communal experience of creative flow.” - Derrick Michaels
This is a recording of their live performance on March 18, 2021
Erin Connelly, trumpet
Derrick Michaels, tenor saxophone
Alex Weber, bass
Dominic Smith, drums
Baltimore-based tenor saxophonist Derrick Michaels is an inexorable force in the creative music community. As a concert presenter and bandleader, Michaels leads entirely improvised concerts integrating the lyrical essence of jazz with 21st-century classical music.Michaels’ 2019 concert series “Derrick Michaels Presents” (in partnership with An Die Musik Live) positioned his own tenor saxophone playing amid 28 brilliant improvisers from Baltimore and New York City, delivering 12 engaging improvised concerts. His 2020 series “Posture of Possibility” (which was interrupted by the pandemic) was a showcase of 12 young improvisers who could very well carry the torch of this music into the next generation.
Baltimore-based musician Erin Connelly began playing trumpet at age10. She was inspired to study jazz in high school after she unwittingly purchased “Chet Baker Sings” from the dollar bin in her local record shop. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz/Commercial Trumpet Performance from Towson University in 2016, where she studied with Dave Ballou, Jim McFalls, Tim Murphy and Jeff Reed. As part of the Bill and Helen Murray Jazz Residency program, Erin took private lessons and clinics with Ellery Eskelin, Drew Gress, Matt Wilson, Jeff Lederer, Ralph Alessi, Tony Malaby, Ingrid Laubrock, Kris Davis, Mary Halverson, and David Liebman. Recent performances include Out of Your Head Collective, Creative Music Consortium, Interstella LIVE LIVE LIVE (a 14-piece daft punk cover band), Brad Linde ensembles, and a new Quartet with local saxophonist Derrick Michaels that s dedicated to preserving and advancing the expressive and melodic potential of the great American songbook and beyond.
Alex Weber, bassist and composer, is based in Baltimore. He graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jazz Performance from Towson University, where he studied bass under Jeff Reed and improvisation with Jim McFalls and Dave Ballou while also studying with visiting artists such as Drew Gress, Ellery Eskelin, and Mark Dresser. Alex joined the progressive metal band Exist in 2008 and recorded two albums with them. He plays in the local jazz/metal fusion group Talking Points who recently recorded their debut album. In 2013, he joined Phil Cunneff's New Trio that plays many of the various forms of jazz.
Dominic Smith is a drummer based in the Baltimore/D.C. area He has 30+ years of experience playing with the cream of the crop of local players as well as visiting musicians from New York and elsewhere. He has appeared as a sideman on more than 50 recordings.
Streaming cost is $10
Donations are welcomed.