Marcus Rojas | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | New York City, New York, U.S. | February 23, 1963
Genres | Jazz, classical, chamber music |
Occupation | Musician |
Instrument | 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.
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. He came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles rooted in jazz but with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating other genres of music. He has performed and recorded with several ensembles: Air, Aggregation Orb, Make a Move, the seven-piece Henry Threadgill Sextett, the twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, Very Very Circus, X-75, and Zooid.
The valve trombone is a brass instrument in the trombone family that has a set of valves to vary the pitch instead of a slide. Although it has been built in sizes from alto to contrabass, it is the tenor valve trombone pitched in B♭ an octave lower than the trumpet which has seen the most widespread use. The most common models have three piston valves. They are found in jazz and popular music, as well as marching bands in Europe, where they are often built with rotary valves and were widely used in orchestras in the 19th century.
The cimbasso is a low brass instrument that covers the same range as a tuba or contrabass trombone. First appearing in Italy in the early 19th century as an upright serpent, the term cimbasso came to denote several instruments that could play the lowest brass part in 19th century Italian opera orchestras. The modern cimbasso design, first appearing as the trombone basso Verdi in the 1880s, has four to six rotary valves, a forward-facing bell, and a predominantly cylindrical bore. These features lend its sound to the bass of the trombone family rather than the tuba, and its valves allow for more agility than a contrabass trombone. Like the modern contrabass trombone, it is most often pitched in F, although models are occasionally made in E♭ and low C or B♭.
Curtis Fowlkes was an American jazz trombonist and singer. He was a founding member of The Jazz Passengers. He had a twin brother James May Fowlkes and his parents were James Ray and Rosa May Fowlkes.
Steven Bernstein is an American trumpeter, slide trumpeter, arranger/composer and bandleader based in New York City. He is best known for his work in The Lounge Lizards, Sex Mob, Spanish Fly and the Millennial Territory Orchestra. Sex Mob's 2006 CD Sexotica was nominated for a Grammy.
Michel Godard is a French avant-garde jazz and classical musician. He plays tuba and the predecessor of the tuba, a brass instrument known as the serpent.
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.
Vincent Chancey is an American jazz hornist.
Wilford F. Min Leibrook was an American jazz tubist, bass saxophonist and double bassist.
Josh Roseman is an American jazz trombonist. His nickname is "Mr. Bone". He studied in Newton North High School.
Ben Perowsky is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, and music producer. He is the drummer on stage in the 8 TONY award winning Broadway musical Hadestown. Perowsky leads the Ben Perowsky Trio, Moodswing Orchestra and Upstream Trio with Chris Speed and John Medeski. He is a founding member of the electric jazz group Lost Tribe. A prolific sideman, Perowsky has performed with Roy Ayers, John Scofield, The Lounge Lizards, Joan As Police Woman, Elysian Fields, Darryl Jenifer, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, Mike Stern, Bob Berg, Walter Becker, Steven Bernstein., and John Zorn.
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.
Bradley Christopher Jones is an American jazz bassist who performs on both bass guitar and double-bass.
Trombone Tribe is an album by trombonist Roswell Rudd. It was recorded at various locations and was released in 2009 by Sunnyside Records. On the album, Rudd appears in different brass band combinations. On five tracks, Rudd appears in a sextet with trombonists Steve Swell and Deborah Weisz, tubist Bob Stewart, bassist and violinist Henry Grimes, and drummer Barry Altschul, while two tracks feature Rudd with five additional trombones plus Altschul. The remaining tracks include members of the bands Bonerama, Sexmob, and the Gangbé Brass Band of Benin.
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".