Baker Artist Portfolios

Bach and Friends is a new documentary feature film that celebrates the music of Bach as interpreted by living musicians. Producer: Michael Lawrence. Director of Photography: Richard Chisolm.


http://www.youtube.com/user/mlfilms#p/a/u/1/lJahQRJ0Tq8

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.

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.

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.

Resophonic 12-string guitar made from salvaged/recycled lumber and a large holiday cookie tin. Central decoration features a young and padded Annette Funicello (from a "found" early '60's album cover) being swarmed by sperm in a womb-like setting. the neck and top are all hand made--not taken from factory-made instruments!

Youtube video or this piece being played at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnSKOsFyfcA

Book: Thelema Trio is an arrangement I made from my 2006 composition Book. Book: Thelema Trio is a custom arrangement of selected pages from Book, a 98 page graphic score for any instruments. Book uses a mixture of conventional notation and fantastically unsystematic notation and does not provide instructions for interpreting the unsystematic notation. In Book: Thelema Trio, the formal elements are specified, but some of the unsystematic notation is left undefined.

This was my first foray into shadow puppetry, completed in the fall of 2009, and subsequently performed live at MICA and the Wind-Up Space.

YDT is a trio consisting of Quartet Offensive members Eric Trudel-sax, Adam Hopkins-bass, and Nathan Ellman-Bell-drums. They play original compositions as well as extended explorations on jazz standards, with a heavy focus on open improvisation.

Adam Hopkins is in the process of composing an album-length composition set for YDT titled "The Numbers in the Car." The track "The Zero In the Car" featured here is the first composition in that set.

YDT is a trio consisting of Quartet Offensive members Eric Trudel-sax, Adam Hopkins-bass, and Nathan Ellman-Bell-drums. They play original compositions as well as extended explorations on jazz standards, with a heavy focus on open improvisation.

Adam Hopkins is in the process of composing an album-length composition set for YDT titled "The Numbers in the Car." The track "The Zero In the Car" featured here is the first composition in that set.