Composers Collective: Beyond The Jukebox Marquis Hill

• 1 A Star Is Born 06:36
• 2 Joseph Beat (feat. Josh Johnson) 02:55
• 3 Meshell 04:21
• 4 The Cool (Constantly Opperating On Love) 03:39
• 5 Pretty For the People (feat. Gerald Clayton) 05:29
• 6 Enter The Stargate 02:03
• 7 I Promise To Listen (feat. Manasseh) 04:43
• 8 Step on Step (Smoke Break) [feat. Manasseh] 00:27
• 9 The OG's (Organic People) 03:46
• 10 Life Days (feat. Jeff Parker) 04:30
• 11 Two Check (For the Rich and Wealthy) 01:38
• 12 Shorter Days (Longer Nights) 04:53
• 13 When You've Got An Attitude (Still Love You) [feat. Manasseh] 01:19
• 14 Chiefs Kiss (feat. Christie Dashiell) 03:10
• 15 Balladesque (Nothing To Lose) [feat. Samora Pinderhughes] 02:20
• 16 Smo Melody n Shit (feat. Caroline Davis) 04:24
• 17 I Remembered You 04:41
• 18 Libra (South Node) [feat. Makaya McCraven & Corey Fonville] 05:55
• Total Runtime 01:06:49

Info for Composers Collective: Beyond The Jukebox

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.”

In addition to the core quintet, Hill invites an array of top-tier instrumentalists to the affair: pianist Gerald Clayton on Jeff Parker’s soaringly melodic “Pretty for the People,” Parker himself on guitar for Junius Paul’s Afrobeat-tinged “Life Days,” alto saxophonist (and Grammy-winning producer) Josh Johnson on Chicago rapper and producer SABA’s springy funk invention “Joseph Beat,” alto saxophonist Caroline Davis on Michael King’s uptempo Rhodes-infused burner “Some Melody n Shit,” and drummer Makaya McCraven on an inspired rendition of Gary Bartz’s classic “Libra” titled “Libra (South Node)” (available as a bonus track).

Hill’s originals—“A Star Is Born,” “The Cool (Constantly Operating on Love),” “Enter the Stargate,” “I Promise to Listen,” “Step on Step (Smoke Break)” and “When You’ve Got an Attitude (Still Love You)”—receive authoritative treatments from the core quintet, as does Chicago tenorist Geof Bradfield’s “Meshell,” a spirited tribute to the Grammy-winning bassist and singer-songwriter. Three Hill tunes feature the Chicago vocalist Manasseh, who met Hill around 2019 at SPACE in Evanston. “That night the seed was planted,” the trumpeter recalls. “Manasseh’s sound has a unique warmth that adds so much to the project.”

Vocalist Christie Dashiell, who appeared on Hill’s Love Tape from 2019, returns on Composers Collective to lend pathos and allure to Corey Fonville’s groovy love song “Chef’s Kiss.” “I met Christie at the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program in DC,” says Hill, “when Dr. Billy Taylor was still there, around 2013. I fell in love with her sound. We’ve toured with [pianist] Helen Sung and it’s always been a vibe.” Samora Pinderhughes delivers a gripping vocal on “Balladesque,” by Chicago tenor stalwart Ernest Dawkins, who recorded a version with Hill on trumpet on his 2011 album The Prairie Prophet. “I wanted to flip this tune and make it romantic,” Hill says. “It was the lightness and purity of Samora’s voice that came to mind. It’s such a beautiful melody. Ernest was gracious enough to allow me to add some lyrics to it.”

Blue Note recording artist and fellow Chicagoan Joel Ross weighs in with the concluding “I Remembered You,” a hypnotic vamp under a Stefon Harris voiceover, preceded by an ethereal trumpet/vibes duet. “We all knew that Joel had something special in the lineage of Chicago music,” Hill recalls. “He was a bad dude even back in high school at 14 or 15 years old. He’s always had that special thing and it’s just continued to develop.” The album also includes a second Michael King composition, the lithe and hard-swinging “Two Check (for the Rich and Wealthy),” as well as “The OG’s (Organic People)” by tenor and bass clarinet master and Twi-Life bandleader Marcus Strickland (with spoken segment by Stefon Harris). “Shorter Days (Longer Nights),” by guitarist and friend Matt Gold, harks back to the first sound on this album, the voice of the late Wayne Shorter, speaking on artistic courage as Hill’s “A Star Is Born” plays, grooving and polyrhythmic, the leader’s resplendent legato trumpet tone front and center.

Though Hill has become a major presence on the New York jazz scene, his past five or six albums were all recorded in Chicago. “I enjoy recording here,” he remarks. “There’s a spot called Palisade, another called SHIRK Studios. They’re comfortable. They feel like home. But having a connection to New York allows me to continue to expand. There’s some cats I still haven’t played with, and New York is a city of inspiration, it makes you a little sharper. ‘Iron sharpens iron,’ as I always say.”

Marquis Hill, trumpet
Joel Ross, vibraphone, marimba
Mike King, piano
Junius Paul, bass
Corey Fonville, drums
Special guests:
Gerald Clayton, piano
Makaya Mccraven, drums
Kendrick Scott, drums
Jeff Parker, guitar
Josh Johnson, alto saxophone
Caroline Davis, alto saxophone
Samora Pinderhughes, vocals
Manasseh, vocals
Christie Dashiell, vocals

Marquis Hill
Chicago has long been a major jazz cradle. Ever since pioneers such as Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and King Oliver planted seeds of the music in 1917, the Windy City has birthed numerous jazz titans of various stylistic idioms, ranging from such swing stalwarts as Benny Goodman and Bud Freedman to such modernists as Muhal Richard Abrams, Jack DeJohnette and Herbie Hancock. You can now add 29-year-old Marquis Hill to the list. The New York Times described him as a “dauntingly skilled trumpeter,” and the Chicago Tribune asserts that “his music crystallizes the hard-hitting, hard-swinging spirit of Chicago jazz.”

Hill hones a warm, mellifluous tone on trumpet and flugelhorn with which he unravels sleek melodic passages that are as commanding as they are cogent. As a composer, he builds upon his distinctive sound to craft arresting originals that embrace post-bop, hip-hop, R&B and spoken word. After releasing four well-received discs on Skiptone Music – New Gospel (2011), Sound of the City (2012), The Poet (2013) and Modern Flows, vol. 1 (2014) – Hill raised his profile significantly by winning the 2014 Thelonious Trumpet Competition, which awarded him a $25,000 scholarship and a recording contract with Concord Records.

His enthralling Concord Records debut, The Way We Play will have featured Hill fronting his commanding ensemble, the Blacktet (altoist Christopher McBride, vibraphonist Justin Thomas, bassist Joshua Ramos, drummer Makaya McCraven and special guests Christie Dashiell, Vincent Gardner, Juan Pastor, and Harold Green III, respectively on voice, trombone, percussion, and spoken word). The Way We Play has captured Hill's uber-tasteful redress of standards, many learnt in formative years. Classics like Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” and Monk’s “Straight No Chaser” have been joined by less known things like Carmell Jones’ “Beep Durple” and Donald Byrd’s “Fly Little Bird Fly." Always reverencing essence, Hill yet brought his lyrically postmodern groove to the material.

Music captured and cultivated Hill’s powerful imagination from very early on. While growing up in the Chatham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, he began playing drums in the forth grade but was soon wooed toward trumpet by his older cousin's practicing of the instrument. His introduction to jazz, fifth grade, was via attendance at Dixon Elementary. The school’s band director Diane Ellis gave him a Lee Morgan album, quickly igniting and lighting a strategic young pilgrimage. “I praise her a lot,” says Hill. “I listened to that Lee Morgan record and had my mind blown. Since that moment I’ve just been in love with this music.”

The next year, Hill met another musical educator who would have a profound influence – Ronald Carter. In addition to being the jazz director for Northern Illinois University, Carter also ran the South Shore Youth Program, a youth organization that took inner-city kids and paid them every two weeks to rehearse in a big band for five days a week and hold weekly concerts. Carter made such an indelible impression that he inspired Hill to attend Northern Illinois University (NIU) after attending Kenwood Academy High School. Hill graduated from the NIU in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education.

Hill also participated in the Ravinia Jazz Scholars, which afforded him the opportunity to learn under such established jazz artists as guitarist Bobby Broom, pianist Willie Pickens, and trumpeter Tito Carrillo. While still an undergraduate, Hill became one of Chicago’s most in-demand jazz trumpeters; he made noteworthy club dates with a host of the Chi-Town’s finest including saxophonists Von Freeman and Fred Anderson.

Hill’s formal musical education continued at DePaul University’s School of Music, where he earned a graduate degree in jazz pedagogy. Even as a recording artist, leading his Blacktet and appearing on recordings by such Chicago-based artists as singer Milton Suggs, saxophonist Ernest Dawkins, and bassist Matt Ulery, Hill maintained his involvement in music education by teaching at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Harold Washington College, the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Egg Harbor, Wis., and the NIU Summer Jazz Camp.

In 2014, Hill moved to New York while still making numerous appearances in Chicago. Focusing on his solo career is paramount, but he’s still making waves as a sideman for internationally acclaimed artists such as bassist Marcus Miller and saxophonist Joe Lovano. Two years after winning the Monk Competition, Hill says that he’s still on cloud nine. “Winning that competition taught me to trust myself and keep working hard for what I believe in,” he says. “That experience taught me that I’m here for a purpose. So I need to keep pushing my music forward.”

This album contains no booklet.