A few amazing things just happened

Hey friends —

I spent all of winter 2019 more or less underground. While I was in hibernation, a few major personal and public things were in process. On the professional side of things, I started working in earnest on three big pieces of music. All three of these pieces were developed throughout the winter, and were premiered in April and May. It was a period of intense work, and when I look back on the whole period I’m grateful to say that everything went better than I could have ever hoped for. I thought that while everything is still fresh I might as well try hard to say a little bit about what these pieces have meant to me.

So over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be posting some thoughts about these three pieces, as a way of putting a cap on this intense period. I’ll be working in reverse order:

  1. On Monday June 17, I’ll make a post about Five Stations, a piece for piano, saxophone, and string quartet which was premiered by Balance through Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings on May 31

  2. On Friday June 21, I’ll make a post about Dividual, my collaboration with theater artist Paul Manganello, which was premiered at the Cleveland Public Theater April 11-13

  3. On Monday June 24, I’ll make a post about I Got to Keep Moving, a performance piece by Balance featuring the stories of eminent author Bill Harris and the drummer Gerald Cleaver

So that’s what’s coming up! Stay tuned.

Marcus Elliot Quartet + Karriem Riggins play No. 3 by Lawrence Williams

Throwback to about two years ago when Karriem Riggins came to Cliff Bell’s and sat in with us on Number 3, the legendary and fierce composition by Detroit drummer Lawrence Williams. I’ve only gotten to play with Karriem a handful of times, and each time leaves a huge impression on me. In terms of feel, I think he’s my favorite around today.

Karriem did a live band set at Northern Lights Lounge in Detroit last weekend, featuring some of Detroit’s finest: Ian Finkelstein on piano, Sasha Kashperko on guitar, Robert Hurst on bass, and Dwight Adams on trumpet. It was a great night. Great energy in the room, and great energy coming from the stage. I ran into so many friends at that show. It felt sort of like a class reunion, but one you actually wanted to be at.

This video is cell phone quality, but worth the watch. Karriem’s playing is terrifying. This is one of my favorite musical moments, paying tribute to our collective musical ancestry through this landmark piece of music.