Bio:
Hailing from Gainesville and shaped by the vibrant culture of Miami, FL, where he was born in 1979, Marcus Strickland, a Grammy-Award nominated tenor saxophonist, has been a dynamic force in the New York jazz scene since the 1990s. His musical journey began alongside his twin brother, drummer E.J. Strickland, fostering a distinctive rhythmic sensibility.
Raised by a father who balanced law with drumming, Marcus's musical education initially unfolded through the lens of percussion, fostering an interactive approach to his saxophone prowess. Influenced early on by jazz luminaries like Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and mentor Whit Sidener, he delved deep into harmonic exploration. Immersing himself in the works of Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, and under the mentorship of Branford Marsalis, Marcus cultivated his saxophone artistry.
In 1997, Strickland secured a scholarship to The New School for Social Research in New York City, graduating with a B.A. in jazz performance in 2002. There, he studied under notable figures such as Charles Tolliver and Reggie Workman, while forging friendships with future collaborators like Robert Glasper and Bilal, sparking innovative musical ideas. Bilal's introduction to artists like Slum Village and J Dilla ignited Marcus's interest in beat making, expanding his musical horizons.
Throughout his career, Marcus has collaborated with jazz icons such as Roy Haynes, Jeff "Tain" Waits, and Chris Dave, mastering bebop traditions while pushing boundaries into the future. Inspired by his experiences with diverse drummers, he incorporated the bass clarinet into his repertoire, further enriching his sonic palette.
Achieving acclaim, Marcus placed third in the 2002 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition and established his own label, Strick Muzik, in 2006. Recognized as a rising star by DownBeat magazine and JazzTimes, he signed with Blue Note Records in 2015, solidifying his place in the jazz canon.
Marcus's ensemble Twi-Life blurs the lines between jazz and Hip Hop, with him taking on roles as beatmaker, composer, and saxophonist. Embracing the concept of 'twilight,' his project explores the interplay between light and darkness, encouraging artistic exploration beyond traditional boundaries.
His 2020 music video "On My Mind" remix, featuring Bilal and Pharoahe Monch, garnered critical acclaim, winning awards at prestigious film festivals. Marcus has shared the stage with legends like McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis, and Mos Def, while his upcoming album, "The Universe's Wildest Dream," reflects on life's fragile beauty.
Balancing his time between New York and Miami, Marcus serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, continuing to inspire the next generation of musical innovators.
The Recôncavo is an almost invisible center-of-gravity. Circumscribing the Bay of All Saints, this region was landing for more enslaved human beings than any other such throughout all of human history. Not unrelated, it is also birthplace of some of the most physically & spiritually uplifting music ever made. —Sparrow
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers: Personal recording engineer for Prince, inc. "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"... Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory
I'm Pardal here in Brazil (that's "Sparrow" in English). The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay. They paid.
MATRIX MUSICAL
The Matrix was built below among some of the world's most powerfully moving music, some of it made by people barely known beyond village borders. Or in the case of Sodré, his anthem A MASSA — a paean to Brazil's poor ("our pain is the pain of a timid boy, a calf stepped on...") — having blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south, before he was silenced. (that's me left, with David Dye & Kim Junod for U.S. National Public Radio) ... The Matrix started with Sodré, with João do Boi, with Roberto Mendes, with Bule Bule, with Roque Ferreira... music rooted in the sugarcane plantations of Bahia. Hence our logo (a cane cutter).