Baltimore bass clarinetist, composer, and community activist Todd Marcus is one of the few jazz artists worldwide to focus exclusively on use of the bass clarinet as a primary soloing instrument. While use of bass clarinet in jazz typically tends to lean heavily towards avant-garde and free-jazz styles, Marcus’ playing presents the instrument with a modern straight-ahead jazz approach. His music swings hard with both fiery and introspective intensity but also maintains a strong lyrical sensibility. As a community activist Marcus leads the nonprofit Newborn Holistic Ministries on Pennsylvania Avenue in the Sandtown-Winchester and Upton neighborhoods where the organization tackles poverty related issues in the community.

Born and raised in the northern New Jersey suburbs of New York City, the half-Egyptian Marcus began music at age six with early piano lessons. He picked up clarinet at age 10 first playing band then classical music repertoire. While in high school, an English teacher who also played New Orleans style jazz piano would introduce Marcus to jazz. But upon trying to join the school’s jazz band, Marcus was told saxophones, not clarinets, were the reed instruments allowed in the band and he was turned away.

In 1994 Marcus moved to Baltimore, MD to study political science at Loyola University and again attempted to join the school’s big band. This time Marcus was allowed to play and embraced the opportunity. With this first exposure to modern jazz along with a new friend’s borrowed jazz records of artists like Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, Marcus began to further explore the music learning improvisation from records and teaching himself theory and harmony. “I started exploring and realized I would have to figure out how to understand theory and harmony. So I’d just mentally drill myself by thinking - Ok, what is the minor 7th of an E dominant chord? – just exercises like that. And then of course, I learned a lot by just sitting at the piano and plucking away till I could play chord progressions.”

While at Loyola, Marcus also began volunteering at a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity in west Baltimore’s Sandtown-Winchester community. He soon began to build relationships with community members including a life-long resident and pastor, Rev. C.W. Harris, who mentored him about the African-American community’s rich legacy of the arts and jazz, segregation challenges, and battles to overcome decades of poverty resulting from destruction by 1960’s riots, flight by black professionals, and an influx of drugs. Harris’ mentoring nurtured Marcus’ interest in Civil Rights era history, its deep connection with the jazz music of that time, and Marcus’ feelings of the need for greater racial reconciliation in America. With a resulting belief in a need to be engaged in community based revitalization, Marcus left college and in 1997 moved into the neighborhood doing community work by day and pursuing his ongoing study of jazz at night.

1997 also marked an important move for Marcus musically as he made the switch from clarinet to bass clarinet shortly after hearing the work of jazz legend Eric Dolphy on the instrument. “I felt it offered a lot more options than regular clarinet,” Marcus explains. “It hasn’t been easy because of challenges the bass clarinet presents on a sonic and mechanical level but I’ve worked to present the horn as an equal to saxophones in a straight-ahead playing context. With so few examples of people playing bass clarinet in modern jazz though, I think it’s ended up being an opportunity for me to chart some new territory for the instrument.”

In late 1998 Marcus returned to New Jersey to complete his college degree in urban studies with two semesters at Rutgers University. While there however, he spent a majority of his time at the school’s jazz department. Though not a music major, he was accepted by audition into the department’s jazz combos getting his first experience of performing in quartets, trios, and composing.

By mid 1999 Marcus was back in Baltimore working again with Rev. Harris where together they worked since to run Newborn Holistic Ministries (newbornholisticministries.com), a nonprofit addressing poverty related issues in the community. These efforts have resulted in the establishment in 2000 of Martha’s Place, the organization’s recovery program for women overcoming drug addiction and homelessness as well Jubilee Arts, a program established in 2008 to offer children and adults with alternatives to drugs and violence in the community. Accomplishments have also included significant community revitalization through the renovation of multiple abandoned buildings and vacant lots and community beautification with greenspaces and murals.

Marcus’ music career has also grown during these years as he has charted new ground on the bass clarinet and developed as a composer and arranger with his Todd Marcus Quartet, Trio, and Duo as well as his nonet, The Todd Marcus Jazz Orchestra. In 2006 he released his debut album In Pursuit of the 9th Man with his Todd Marcus Jazz Orchestra as well as his Todd Marcus Quartet’s 2012 release Inheritance.

Though self taught in jazz theory and composition, Marcus’ compositions draw largely on intricate but lyrical straight-ahead jazz, classical influences, and over recent years have also increasingly explored the Middle-Eastern sounds from his Egyptian-American heritage. His work includes international performances, clinics, and radio play and he has worked with other jazz artists such as Bennie Maupin, Don Byron, Larry Willis, Odean Pope, Tim Warfield, Sean Jones, George Colligan, Orrin Evans, Joel Frahm, Xavier Davis, Mike Formanek, and Gary Thomas. Marcus was also a featured guest at the 1st World Bass Clarinet Convention in Rotterdam, Holland where his work was recognized for both his compositions and unique solo voice.

“My adult life has really been about being a part of and serving my community by day and cultivating my music by night,” Marcus shares. “I think I’ve always felt upset by the injustice of inequities in the world and so being a part of my community has allowed me to specifically deal with ongoing issues that stem from systemic racism and poverty. And at the same time, my music has allowed me to try to create some beauty that hopefully unites people across all races through the power of music.”

The Todd Marcus Quartet is an ensemble that features my bass clarinet and clarinet along with piano, bass, and drums. This ensemble presents my original compositions and arrangements, jazz standards, and demonstrates my work of presenting the bass clarinet as a legitimate lead horn in modern jazz deserving of equal consideration with more traditional jazz horns like the saxophone and trumpet.

I've been composing and arranging my work for this group since 2005 and it allows me to give great focus to both my compositions and soloing. While some material that this ensemble performs is also featured with my large nine member jazz orchestra, there are some works that I present only in this context because of the flexibility of this small ensemble format.

The past couple years have also been important ones for me with this ensemble as I've explored the incorporation of Middle Eastern music into jazz. This has stemmed from my own journey to dig deeper into my half-Egyptian ethnicity and I think it is a insightful reflection of both my American culture (through jazz) and Egyptian culture (through Middle Eastern music). This effort has been a challenging one though as jazz and Middle Eastern music are constructed very differently. While the harmonies in jazz are a crucial element that define its sound, traditional Middle Eastern melodies typically do not use harmony and focus more on unison themes. So in many ways my efforts to merge these two musics is the perfect metaphor for me as an individual who continues to explore and integrate his Americian and Egyptian cultures.

The Todd Marcus Jazz Trio is an ensemble that features my bass clarinet and clarinet along with bass and drums. Whereas my larger quartet and jazz orchestra ensembles focus more on my original compositions and arrangements, this ensemble tends to allow me to more often present the works of other artists and jazz standards that work well in this setting without a piano.

This ensemble also demonstrates my work of presenting the bass clarinet as a legitimate lead horn in modern jazz deserving of equal consideration with more traditional jazz horns like the saxophone and trumpet.

The material I present with this ensemble tends to focus on compositions with strong harmony and a great example is the multimovement Freedom Suite by legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins which is presented here with the audio samples. This work has been a significant inspiration to me and I have recently composed my own trio suite that similarly features short but strong melodic themes that work well in this small ensemble.

The Todd Marcus Jazz Duo is an ensemble that features my bass clarinet along with pianist Harry Appelman. This ensemble features my original compositions as well as interpretations of jazz standards and features great interplay between my horn and Harry Appelman's piano playing.

This ensemble came about years ago by accident when a performance didn't offer a large enough budget to feature a full rhythm section. Initially I was apprehensive about the gig (a six hour performance with just the two of us) but I quickly found that we shared a common harmonic approach and were able to explore tremendous musical creativity and responsiveness with no other instruments to focus on except what each other were doing. This setting also really allows a context to hear the subtle textures of my instrument which sometimes get covered over when playing in louder ensemble settings with drums.

The Tariqu Ensemble is a trio that is focused on fusing Middle Eastern music and jazz both with traditional Middle Eastern material and original compositions by the ensemble. Given my Egyptian-American heritage, this group has been particularly fun to cultivate and is made up of percussionist Jon Seligman and pianist Harry Appelman who are also both jazz musicians that share this passion to incorporate Middle Eastern music. We've all individually traveled to the Middle East and have explored how the music can be integrated with our backgrounds as jazz musicians.

This group began in 2009 but in many ways is still still in it's early stages as we hope to build on our early efforts and travel not just in the US but also with some touring of the Middle East.

Selected video footage of performances by:

The Todd Marcus Jazz Orchestra
2013 at 14Karat Cabaret in Baltimore, MD

The Todd Marcus Quartet featuring clarinetist Don Byron
2013 at the MidAtlantic Jazz Festival in Rockville, MD

The Todd Marcus Quartet
2012 at Bohemian Caverns in Washington, DC