Marquis Hill

Marquis Hill, a trumpeter, composer, and bandleader born in Chicago, blends post-bop and jazz-funk foundations with elements drawn from hip-hop, R&B, Chicago house, and neo-soul. His first independent release, New Gospel, arrived in 2011 and preceded The Poet in 2013. Victory at the 2014 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Trumpet Competition brought a recording agreement with Concord, which produced the widely praised The Way We Play in 2016, after he had already issued the Modern Flows, Vol. 1 EP. November 2018 brought Modern Flows, Vol. 2, while October 2019 saw both The Love Tape and Love Tape with Voices. Soul Sign, an astrologically themed project offered in spoken-word and instrumental editions, followed in November 2020. New Gospel Revisited surfaced in March 2022 as a live document of the complete 2011 suite performed by his all-star Blacktet at a 2019 concert, and Rituals + Routines emerged in 2023 with pronounced electronic and R&B inflections.

Raised in Chicago, Hill took up the trumpet during elementary school and turned toward jazz, particularly hard bop, once a high-school band instructor presented him with Lee Morgan’s 1958 Blue Note album Candy. He completed a B.A. in music education and jazz studies at Northern Illinois University in 2009, then earned a master’s degree in jazz pedagogy from DePaul University three years afterward. Competitive successes mounted when he captured first place at the 2012 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Improvisation Competition and again at the 2013 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition. Professional engagements have placed him onstage alongside Benny Golson, Rodney Whitaker, Steve Turre, and numerous others.

After New Gospel in 2011 came Sounds of the City in 2012 and The Poet the following year. Global recognition arrived with the 2014 Thelonious Monk triumph, after which Hill issued the hip-hop-infused Modern Flows, Vol. 1. His Concord debut, The Way We Play, appeared in 2016; Meditation Tape arrived independently the next year, featuring Brett Williams on Rhodes and keyboards, Junius Paul on bass, Makaya McCraven on drums, spoken-word contributions from Marvin “Bugalu” Smith and Harold Green III, and MC appearances by King Legend and Mic We$t, offered as a free download via his site. Modern Flows, Vol. 2 was released in 2019 on his own Black Unlimited Music Group imprint with New York musicians including Paul, saxophonist Josh Johnson, vibraphonist Joel Ross, and drummer Jonathan Pinson. Love Tape with Voices followed in 2020, a conceptual work centered on love expressed from women’s viewpoints that incorporated archival quotations from Eartha Kitt, Abbey Lincoln, and Phylicia Rashad. Hill was supported by keyboardist Michael King, bassist Junius Paul, and drummer Marcus Gilmore, with guest vocalist Christie Dashiell; Charles Haynes and Makaya McCraven served as co-producers. An instrumental counterpart, Love Tape, appeared shortly afterward. Soul Sign, developed with Bronx astrologers Mecca Woods and Boro the Lucky Libra, mapped a zodiac-themed journey through spoken-word-infused beats and was accompanied by an instrumental edition on the same date.

New Gospel Revisited was issued by Edition Records in March 2022 from a December 2019 performance at Chicago’s Constellation that presented a reinterpretation of the original album by the Blacktet, whose members—saxophonist Walter Smith III, vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist/keyboardist James Francies, drummer Kendrick Scott, and bassist Harish Raghavan—were all bandleaders themselves. Rituals + Routines reached listeners in June 2023, again traversing jazz, R&B, electronic, and hip-hop territories while spotlighting saxophonist Braxton Cook, vibraphonist Joel Ross, and vocalist Ariesfoolmoon among its guests.