PRESS RELEASE

March 19, 2012 

 

For interviews and inquiries
please contact
Stephanie Dalton

For Immediate Release
For Immediate Release 

Z Space Presents 

An Evening with The Marcus Shelby Orchestra in two parts:  

 

Part 1: Miss Black World: We Almost Lost Detroit (A Musical Memoir) 
presenting musical sketches of his latest collaboration with 

Margo Hall and Ellen Sebastian Chang
AND  

Part 2: Occupy the Blues

featuring vocalist Faye Carol


Sunday April 15

 

"Marcus Shelby illuminates history through jazz."   

San Francisco Chronicle 
 

Pre-Concert Talk with Composer Marcus Shelby begins at 6:30
Show begins at 7:00 / Tickets $10 / All Ages

 

 

 www.zspace.org

Artist Website

  

mbw zspace apr 15

 

San Francisco, CA - March 19, 2012 - On Sunday April 15, 2012, Z Space presents An Evening with The Marcus Shelby Orchestra in Two parts: Miss Black World: We Almost Lost Detroit (A Musical Memoir) presenting musical sketches of his latest collaboration with Margo Hall and Ellen Sebastien Chang and Occupy the Blues featuring vocalist Faye CarolTickets are $10 and available here. For more information please visit www.zspace.org.

 

About Occupy the Blues & Miss Black World...

Marcus Shelby is fascinated with the music and history of Detroit and in particular the individual and collective narratives that weave the fabric of both. As Marcus explains it, "Detroit was a geographically important location in the history of American music. Aside from the incredible contributions of Motown and Soul Music, Detroit has produced some of the most influential gospel, jazz, and blues artists. One of my goals as a composer, musician, and teacher, is to learn about and share how American music evolved, and what social and political factors helped shape this evolution. Secondly, Detroit is compelling because of its place in the Civil Rights movement; my goal is to discover how music, in turn, influenced social movements." 

  

About Marcus Shelbymarcus shelby

Marcus Anthony Shelby is an accomplished teacher, composer, arranger, and bassist who currently lives in San Francisco, California. Over the past 20 years, he has built a diverse biography. From 1990-1996, Shelby was bandleader of Columbia Records and GRP Impulse! Recording Artists Black/Note and is currently the Artistic Director and leader of The Marcus Shelby Orchestra, The Marcus Shelby Hot 7, and the The Marcus Shelby Trio. 

  

Shelby was awarded a 2009 Black Metropolis Research Consortium Fellowship in Chicago for summer 2009 to conduct research for his commission to compose "Soul of the Movement". Shelby was also a 2006 Fellow in the Resident Dialogues Program of the Committee for Black Performing Arts at Stanford University to conduct research for his commission to compose "Harriet Tubman". Shelby also has had the honor of arranging for and conducting the Count Basie Orchestra featuring Ledisi, performing with Tom Waits, and receiving the City Flight Magazine 2005 award as one of the "Top Ten Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area". 

  

As the 1991 winner of the Charles Mingus Scholarship, Shelby's studies include work under the tutelage of composer James Newton and legendary bassist Charlie Haden. Shelby is also very active in music education and currently teaches at Rooftop Alternative School in San Francisco, the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University, and also the Oakland Public Conservatory.


About Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestramsjo

In 1999, Marcus Shelby's interest in composing for jazz orchestra and his work in collaboration with the Bay Area multidisciplinary arts organization Intersection for the Arts led him to form the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra. 

Today The MSJO is comprised of eighteen of the Bay Area's most respected and sought after young musicians including Adam Shulman, Mike Olmos, Joel Behrman, and Evan Francis with featured artists that include; Saxophonist Howard Wiley, and celebrated vocalists Faye Carol and Kenny Washington.

Shelby has written an extensive series of original compositions and suites as well as orchestrated a broad survey of arrangements from great composers Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

Shelby was awarded two residencies with Intersection for the Arts through Theater Communications Group and Meet the Composer and in 2000 was awarded the Creative Work Fund grant to compose for the MSJO. The project resulted in the recording "The Lights". In 2002, Shelby was commissioned by the Equal Justice Society to compose a suite for jazz orchestra in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Port Chicago Mutiny. In 2005, Marcus received the Creative Work Fund grant to compose a jazz oratoria for jazz orchestra which narrates the life of Harriet Tubman. In 2009 Marcus received the Black Metropolis Research Consortium Fellowship to conduct research in preparation for the Marcus Shelby Orchestra's 4th CD release on January 15, 2011 titled "Soul of the Movement". This CD received critical acclaim and reached #2 on National Jazz Radio Charts (February 2011). Currently, Marcus Shelby has received a Gerbode Award and has been commissioned to compose an original musical with Bay Area director, writer, and actress Margo Hall. This production will feature the Marcus Shelby Orchestra and will premier in Spring 2013. 

In addition to developing commissioned works, the orchestra currently performs at Bay Area clubs, universities, high schools, elementary schools, churches, festivals, and concert venues.  

 

Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra Is:
Alto: Gabe Eaton
Alto: Marcus Stephens
Tenor/Clarinet: Sheldon Brown
Tenor/Flute: Evan Francis
Tenor/Soprano Sax: Howard Wiley
Baritone/Bass Clarinet: Fil Lorenz
Trombones: Joel Behrman, Rob Ewing, Mike Rinta
Trumpets: Scott Englebright, Mike Olmos, Darren Johnston, Mark Wright
Piano: Adam Shulman
Drums: Jeff Marrs 
Bass/Conductor: Marcus Shelby
Vocals: Faye Carol

 

About Faye Carol - Vocalistfaye carol

Faye Carol is one of the premiere vocalists of her time. Her unique style and gift of connecting with her audience is astonishing. This Bay Area living legend remains true to her Mississippi roots infusing the blues into everything from Cole Porter to Michelle Legrand songs.

 

About Margo Hall -  Director, Dramaturgmargo hall
Margo Hall is an award winning actor/director/playwright. She recently directed Sonny's Blues, by James Baldwin for San Francisco based company Word for Word which toured France. She co-directed Bulrusher with Ellen Sebastian Chang, a new play by Eisa Davis, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Margo recently received rave reviews in Jessica Hagedorn's Fe' in the Desert as the title character Fe'. She has performed for Arena Stage, Olney Theater, and Source Theater, in Washington, D.C., the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and locally at American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Magic Theatre, Brava! For Women in the Arts, and Word For Word. She is a founding member of Campo Santo, a resident theater company at Intersection for the Arts.
  

  

About Ellen Sebastian Chang, Artistic Directorellen sebastian chang

Ellen Sebastian Chang, an accomplished director, writer, and a creative consultant, was a cofounder and artistic director of LIFE ON THE WATER, an internationally known presenting and producing organization at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center from 1986 through 1995. She continues to direct numerous creative productions and premieres throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. They include: the 2009 world premiere of "Stateless," a hip-hop and vaudeville performance at The Jewish Theatre, San Francisco, the west coast premiere of the Philip Glass opera "Ahknahten" for Oakland Opera Theater (Joshua Kosman's top ten classic events of 2004); the premiere of "Walkin Talkin Bill Hawkins" (about the first black DJ in Cleveland, Ohio) at the Dobama Theater in Cleveland; and an East Coast tour of "KALI YUGA: The Age of Chaos," her 2006 collaboration with Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Indonesian poet Goenewan Mohammed, and spoken word/B-boy dancer Rashidi Omari Byrd. Early in her career, she served as the technical director and lighting designer for The Blake Street Hawkeyes from 1979-1983.

 

About Z Spacezspace logo

Founded in 1993, Z Space is a hub for artists and audiences to revel in the creation, development, and production of outstanding new work. We commission, develop, and produce a full season of new works from a variety of disciplines including theater, dance, music, performance art, and new media. We foster opportunities around the nation for these works and for their Bay Area artists. We engage diverse audiences through direct interactions with the process, the projects, and the artists.

Since 2009 we have managed and operated a 13,000 sq/ft, 268-seat performing arts venue and gallery (formerly known as Theater Artaud): home to more than 40 weeks of public multidisciplinary arts programming annually. Z Space is located at 450 Florida Street (between 17th and Mariposa) San Francisco, CA.

  

 # # #

Press inquiries
Stephanie Dalton, Urban Music Presents

415.796.2319 / 415.503.8207

[email protected]

www.urbanmusicpresents.com