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 Freedom Suite - 2nd movement
    The Freedom Suite is a composition by saxophonist Sonny Rollins that he recorded in the 1950's and featured his horn with bass and drums. The piece is a collection of a four short but strong themes that all have extremely rich harmony that is beautiful in a trio setting without piano. I learned and transcribed the horn, bass, and drum parts of the suite from the record and have enjoyed playing it over the years with my bass clarinet as the lead horn. This is the second movement which is a powerful waltz that doesn't feature any solos but has a great feel and works well with the tone of bass clarinet.
  • The Freedom Suite - 3rd movement
    The Freedom Suite is a composition by saxophonist Sonny Rollins that he recorded in the 1950's and featured his horn with bass and drums. The piece is a collection of a four short but strong themes that all have extremely rich harmony that is beautiful in a trio setting without piano. I learned and transcribed the horn, bass, and drum parts of the suite from the record and have enjoyed playing it over the years with my bass clarinet as the lead horn. This is the third movement which is a beautiful ballad and features my bass clarinet solo as well as solos by bassist Jeff Reed and drummer Eric Kennedy.
  • The Freedom Suite - 4th movement
    The Freedom Suite is a composition by saxophonist Sonny Rollins that he recorded in the 1950's and featured his horn with bass and drums. The piece is a collection of a four short but strong themes that all have extremely rich harmony that is beautiful in a trio setting without piano. I learned and transcribed the horn, bass, and drum parts of the suite from the record and have enjoyed playing it over the years with my bass clarinet as the lead horn. This is the fourth and final movement which is a fast theme that includes my bass clarinet solo as well as solos by drummer Eric Kennedy.
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    todd-marcus-side-bw-2.jpg
  • The Freedom Suite - 1st movement
    The Freedom Suite is a composition by saxophonist Sonny Rollins that he recorded in the 1950?s and featured his horn with bass and drums. The piece is a collection of a four short but strong themes that all have extremely rich harmony that is beautiful in a trio setting without piano. I learned and transcribed the horn, bass, and drum parts of the suite from the record and have enjoyed playing it over the years with my bass clarinet as the lead horn. This is the first movement is tricky due to some fast moving harmonies that I find force me to play a bit differently than normal. This recording comes from a live club performance and features my bass clarinet solo as well as a solo by bassist Jeff Reed.
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