Marcus is a pianist and has been an integral part of New York City’s Uptown Jam-session Scene. He is the Sugar Hill Jazz Quartet’s house pianist, and performs every Monday at the Lenox Lounge in Harlem. Marcus plays the piano in the house band at the newly reopened Minton’s Playhouse alongside James Carter, Andy McCloud and others. Marcus has been a steady uptown musician for many years, including playing with Wynton Marsalis and Cassandra Wilson as well as Lewis Nash. He is deeply rooted in jazz and blues traditions, and has a vast musical vocabulary that allows him to seamlessly move across genres. He has played with many artists, including Jerry Gonzalez, Dizzy Giillespie, Max Roach and Cecil McBee. He has toured and recorded in Europe, Japan, and the United States with Joseph Bowie’s Defunkt and Willie Colon. His arrangements and compositions are featured on the remarkable trilogy of albums that Bauza’s legendary Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra recorded. One of these albums (“944 Columbus”) was nominated to win a Grammy Award. His talents as an arranger have been appreciated by thousands of people who have heard about the Afro-Latin orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marcus was educated in Chicago and New York City. He earned a Bachelor of Arts at the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, Illinois. In his role as leader, Marcus has just released a new CD, “Uptown Suite.” It features original compositions that capture Harlem in its many musical tones and colors, from the blues, “Stoney Island,” paying homage to his Chicago roots, to the Latin-jazz-waltz “Mineret.” from www.marcuspersiani.com
