Marcus Rojas | |
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 Rojas in 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | February 23, 1963 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, classical, chamber music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Tuba |
Marcus Rojas (born February 23, 1963) is an American tubist from New York City.
Rojas was born in New York City on February 23, 1963, and grew up in Red Hook, Brooklyn. [1] His early influences included Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colón, and uncles who played percussion and trombone. [1] He began on trombone at elementary school, then changed to tuba in junior high school. [1] At age 15, Rojas began lessons with tubist Samuel Pilafian. [2] He went on to attend the High School of Music & Art in New York, and studied further at the New England Conservatory. [1]
"After graduation, he moved back to New York and started to work with a wide variety of musicians in different settings, including bassist Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, composer-saxophonist Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus, trumpeter Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy." [1] He has played in the orchestras of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Ballet. [3]
Rojas formed the trio Spanish Fly with Steven Bernstein and David Tronzo in 1989. [3] He has also worked with the American Symphony Orchestra, Foetus, Sly & Robbie, and John Zorn. [4]
He has taught at New York University, State University of New York at Purchase, and Brooklyn College. [1]
With Bob Belden
With David Byrne
With Thomas Chapin
With Dave Douglas
With Spanish Fly
With Sting
With They Might Be Giants
With Henry Threadgill
With Victor Wooten
With John Zorn
With others
The bass trumpet is a type of low trumpet which was first developed during the 1820s in Germany. It is usually pitched in 8' C or 9' B♭ today, but is sometimes built in E♭ and is treated as a transposing instrument sounding either an octave, a sixth or a ninth lower than written, depending on the pitch of the instrument. Having valves and the same tubing length, the bass trumpet is quite similar to the valve trombone, although the bass trumpet has a harder, more metallic tone. Certain modern manufacturers that sell 'valve trombones' and 'bass trumpets' employ the same tubing, valves, and bell in different combinations; in these circumstances, the bass trumpet is nearly similar to the valve trombone.
The Wagner tuba is a four-valve brass instrument commissioned by and named after Richard Wagner. It combines technical features of both standard tubas and French horns, though despite its name, the Wagner tuba is more similar to the latter, and usually played by horn players. Wagner commissioned the instrument for his four-part opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, where its purpose was to bridge the acoustical and textural gap between the French horn and trombone.
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Harvey Gene Phillips, Sr. was an American tuba player. He served as the Distinguished Professor of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington and was dedicated advocate for the tuba becoming popularly known as Mr. Tuba.
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John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory is an album of a performance of John Zorn's improvisational game piece, Cobra, performed at the Knitting Factory in 1992. The album resembles the missing link between John Zorn's work with Masada and Naked City. It also had a major impact on the electronic scene of New York.
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Carl Michael Alfred Steinberg was an American music critic and author who specialized in classical music. He was best known, according to San Francisco Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman, for "the illuminating, witty and often deeply personal notes he wrote for the San Francisco Symphony's program booklets, beginning in 1979." He contributed several entries to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, wrote articles for music journals and magazine, notes for CDs, and published a number of books on music, both collected published annotations and new writings.
Spirit of Nuff...Nuff is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the Black Saint label in 1991 produced by Flavio and Giovanni Bonandrini. The album and features seven of Threadgill's compositions performed by Threadgill's Very Very Circus with Curtis Fowlkes, Brandon Ross, Masujaa, Marcus Rojas, Edwin Rodriguez, and Gene Lake.
Charles Burnham is an American violinist and composer. He has a unique highly imaginative style that crosses genres, including bluegrass, delta punk, free jazz, blues, classical and chamber jazz. He often performs with a wah-wah pedal. He initially became renowned for his work on James "Blood" Ulmer's Odyssey album. The musicians on that album later performed and recorded as Odyssey the Band, sometimes known as The Odyssey Band. He was also a member of the String Trio of New York, and currently plays in the 52nd Street Blues Project, Hidden City, We Free StRings, Improvising Chamber Ensemble and the Kropotkins.
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The Chicago Rhythm Kings was the name under which the recordings of several different jazz ensembles were issued. The earliest of these was a jazz octet consisting of vocalist Red McKenzie, cornetist Muggsy Spanier, saxophonist Frank Teschemacher, guitarist Eddie Condon, clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow, pianist Joe Sullivan, drummer Gene Krupa, and bassist and tubist Jim Lanigan. This group, who also recorded under the name the Jungle Kings, released a 1928 record for Brunswick Records as the Chicago Rhythm Kings performing Benton Overstreet's "There'll Be Some Changes Made" and Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams's "I Found a New Baby".
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