Home » Jazz Articles » Profile » 20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Thomas Marriott
20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Thomas Marriott
Courtesy Lisa Hagen Glynn
It’s that connection. It’s a holy thing. When we bring past, present and future together, that’s a sanctified thing that we do.
—Thomas Marriott
Ray Charles
piano and vocals1930 - 2004
Quincy Jones
arranger1933 - 2024
Ernestine Anderson
vocals1928 - 2016
Jelly Roll Morton
piano1890 - 1941
Joe Venuti
violin1903 - 1978
Larry Coryell
guitar1943 - 2017
Julian Priester
tromboneb.1935
Randy Brecker
trumpetb.1945
With this series of features, I will introduce you to twenty jazz musicians currently living and working in Seattle. It is not to be seen as any sort of ranking, it has no positional value in that regard. It is simply an effort to introduce the jazz world at large to the vibrance and innovative nature of the jazz scene in and around the jewel city of Seattle, Washington.
3. Thomas Marriott
A jazz fan born and raised in New York City sat in the Village Vanguard one evening, taking in a set from pianist
Gerald Clayton
piano
Thomas Marriott
trumpetb.1975
Seattle is a city with a creative soul. Many great players have left Seattle, on to New York or points abroad, seeking to play with the best, to fully engage in their calling as musicians. For the purpose of this series, those players are not included, as we focus on resident Seattle players.
Aaron Parks
drumsb.1983
Kassa Overall
programmingThe early jazz life of Thomas Marriott included winning the Carmine Caruso International Trumpet Competition, and a nearly decade long pilgrimage to New York. He didn't land in New York to attend jazz school at a university. He chose the method of learning on the bandstand, at jam sessions, playing with more experienced musicians on the scene. He spent time on the road with artists like
Maynard Ferguson
trumpet1928 - 2006
Since his return in 2004, he is a constant barometer of the vibrancy of the Seattle jazz scene. His live performances became an institution at Tula's Jazz Club. He has released 11 albums as a leader on the Origin Records label, including the transcendent Constraints and Liberations in 2010. Through it all, he has been the consummate professional, both onstage, and off. He is well integrated into the scene, attending jam sessions, playing with younger players, and using his national status to bring talent to Seattle that otherwise would pass it by. Over time, he has produced shows with
Hadley Caliman
saxophone1932 - 2010
Orrin Evans
pianob.1975
Ray Vega
trumpet
Brian Lynch
trumpetb.1956
Roy McCurdy
drumsb.1936
Steve Wilson
saxophoneb.1961
Marriott's awareness of jazz culture began at an early age, as he and his brother, trombonist
David Marriott, Jr.
tromboneb.1973
"I feel really lucky that my calling to be a musician was not questioned by my parents. My father grew up in a household of musicians, it didn't seem out of the ordinary to him. I'm very grateful for that, that can't be overstated. That is an incredible advantage and a privilege from the very beginning. I really hit the jackpot, there's no question about that," says Marriott.
He attended the weekly jam session at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant at a young age, benefiting from the tutelage of veteran trumpeter Floyd Standifer, and sought out the guidance of veteran players like
Jay Thomas
saxophone, tenorb.1949
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra
band / ensemble / orchestra"In '97, when I started playing in SRJO, I had Jay on one side, and Floyd on the other. I thought I had arrived, this is where I wanted to be," he recalls.
Marriott's last two recordings are diametric opposites, revealing the best of his recorded playing to date. Romance Language (Origin, 2018) focuses on melody and beauty, skillfully arranged and orchestrated by producer/pianist
Ryan Cohan
pianob.1971
Joe Locke
vibraphoneb.1959
"I give all the credit to Joe Locke and Ryan Cohan on that score, they took what I wanted to do and ran with it. I could never have done it without them. You have to allow yourself to go where they take it," says Marriott.
The most recent release, Trumpet Ship (Origin, 2020) was recorded in one three hour session at Studio X, a live session of all first takes.
Orrin Evans
pianob.1975
Luques Curtis
bass, acoustic
Mark Whitfield, Jr.
drums
Essiet Essiet
bassb.1956
Eric Revis
bassb.1967
Donald Edwards
drumsTrumpet Ship hits hard from the outset, and features Marriott's finest recorded playing to date. It was recorded just as Evans was to take over the piano chair in
The Bad Plus
band / ensemble / orchestrab.2000
"Trumpet Ship was about me wanting to play music with those people in that space—there was no agenda behind it. I came into the studio with my sketchy little tunes, and those guys took those tunes to places unexpected. I think that's part of making jazz music, that's what we want," he says.
Marriott's fifteen year history of recording as a leader has produced consistently excellent results. That stretch in time has as well seen exponential growth in his playing. There is more strength in his playing, more dynamics within a stunning range. His melodic improvisation is probing and well articulated. He draws from a deep and open minded conception of what the music is, and what it means to him and his community. The beautifully conceived Romance Language, and the post bop modernism of Trumpet Ship, speaks to his arrival as one of the finest trumpet players in jazz.
"In thinking about the two of them together, as they came about together, I think it represents the best of my playing. They're a culmination of a certain kind of understanding that I've come to over the past couple of years," he reflects.
Marriott has always been comfortable playing anywhere within the jazz idiom, whether performing his own music, or in such diverse climes as the
Spanish Harlem Orchestra
band / ensemble / orchestra"Free music is now part of the common parlance of jazz. Because it's not part of the academic tradition, it seems like a new thing to a lot of people. Free music has been part and parcel of the jazz musician's skill set since the late 1950's," says Marriott. More likely, the terminology is the result of the industry just figuring out how people actually play. Players who came from the bebop tradition and first began the free jazz movement, played with no fear. They had paid dues the right way, on the bandstand with a diverse group of musical personalities. In a culture that seems to increasingly feature artistic self-engagement, Marriott's connection with jazz is as a social music, a form that offers community and fellowship. As a jazz musician, he can venture onto common ground, or traverse a terrain previously unknown without an ounce of fear.
"We're supposed to be masters of melody, harmony and rhythm. If we're doing that out of fear, we're communicating fear to the audience. If we're doing it out of artistic choice, that's something totally different," he says. When queried about what his stylistic approach is, he answers simply, "Play jazz. No part of it is off limits. I'm not afraid of jazz music, any part of it—at all."
Marriott's music has as well benefited from his musical and social interactions in other jazz communities. It gives him perspective on what we're doing here in Seattle, just as his experience in Seattle gives him a different view into other jazz communities. His now 10 year history of collaborating with Evans has given him the experience of the very insular Philadelphia scene, so different from the transient jazz culture he experienced in New York. In the process, he has gained a larger and more diverse vocabulary to spin his musical prose.
"I'm grateful to have a very deep well of music to engage, as a listener and a performer. I feel very privileged to be able to play in other local communities of jazz musicians. I do feel like the community of jazz musicians is one big family. I feel like I have family all over the U.S., even globally. It's not that big of a community. I gratefully feel a part of, and a kinship and fellowship with, other jazz musicians. It's a really good feeling. It's a feeling I appreciate, and a lot of people seek. I feel really grateful that it is something I have found," he remarks.
The release of Trumpet Ship in March, was to be followed by a tour with the quartet, plans unfortunately derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The record speaks to the fact that Marriott was in the middle of a perfect storm with this group of musicians, bringing out the best of his artistry. Covid-19 presented a different challenge to musicians worldwide. While Marriott's album barely preceded the worldwide pandemic, the recording medium began to wield dozens of new recordings concerning justice in America, after the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. In jazz, as an instrumentalist or vocalist, raising a voice became part of what it means to be a jazz musician. Protest is, and has been, integral in the lexicon of jazz music. For Marriott, it falls under the heading of social responsibility.
"That's our job, we're reporters in the field. We report on the human condition in all of its places. It's our responsibility to bring awareness to social issues. Not only are we responsible to speak out as human beings, if we fail to use our music to do the same, then the music really is a 'classical' music, and no longer a living, breathing, evolving art form," he states strongly. To a trumpet player, that voice is not articulated with the lyricism of words, but with the lyricism of sound and emotion. "We communicate emotion through sound. What we do by definition is a little on the abstract side."
Jazz culture is club culture. Most of the great music that has been performed by even the most celebrated of jazz musicians, has been performed in very small rooms. In Seattle, the resident artists lost Tula's in the past year. Mac Waldron's club had presented nothing but jazz on its stage for twenty six years, six or seven nights a week. Marriott grew up as a jazz musician at Tula's. He played his first gig there in 1996. It was the true jazz nightclub vibe, with the audience right on top of the musicians. It was an all in scene, where the music was the thing.
Marriott, in a piece he composed on his website concerning the closing of the club in September of 2019, communicated to his fans what the club had meant to him and his career. "I learned almost every aspect of being a professional jazz musician from working gigs at Tula's. Not only was I able to develop my skill as a musician, sideman and bandleader, I also learned how to communicate with the audience, negotiate pay with other musicians and with management, effectively promote shows, and present other artists. Tula's was a big part of my jazz education, and the skills I developed there have allowed me to have something of a career beyond Seattle."
The economic crisis caused by the pandemic poses a huge challenge to club culture moving forward. In its wake, there will be a huge impact on jazz culture as a whole. In cities like Seattle, the overhead of combining jazz performance with a restaurant operation has become burdensome. The trend would seem to be to go back to basement bars with low overhead, perhaps employing a non-profit status to the venture. With the recording industry effectively de-monetized, musicians are more gig oriented than ever, as they will be after the pandemic subsides." I think we're going to see more venues run by musicians, more musician driven performance spaces," says Marriott.
Jazz is the height of artistry in American culture. Much is at stake for the musicians, and most importantly, for the music itself. It is our responsibility as a jazz community to take care of the music, to assure its growth and viability generation to generation. It's never been easy, nor is it now. The grind is not for the unmotivated.
"My commitment has been tested, over and over again. I'm still here, still trying to do it, and I intend to keep trying to do it as long as there's things to do. I have two gigs on the calendar right now, it's something to practice for, something to write music for," says Marriott with resolve.
Time will tell when we can gather again in the light of music, when the clubs will again be alit with the energy of the music and the presence of an intimate audience. Streaming performances have helped, but can never replace the experience of the clubs. Jazz is a social music, that includes communicating with an engaged audience. It was a short year ago that Marriott took the stage at Tula's for the last time. There was an abundance of energy in the room, moving between celebration, and mourning for the end of Tula's long run. Hitting with pianist
Tim Kennedy
piano
Jeff Johnson
bassb.1954
John Bishop
drumsb.1959
Rick Mandyck
saxophoneSays Marriott thoughtfully, "It's that connection. It's a holy thing. When we bring past, present and future together, that's a sanctified thing that we do. The 'thing' is bringing people together and relieve them from whatever they're going through. We take them outside of themselves and uplift them."
Tags
Profile
Thomas Marriott
Paul Rauch
United States
Washington
Seattle
Ray Charles
Quincy Jones
Ernestine Anderson
Jelly Roll Morton
Joe Venuti
Larry Coryell
Julian Priester
randy brecker
Gerald Clayton
Thomas Marriott
Aaron Parks
Kassa Overall
Hadley Caliman
Orrin Evans
Ray Vega
Brian Lynch
Curtis Brothers
Roy McCurdy
Steve Wilson
David Marriott, Jr.
Jay Thomas
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra
Ryan Cohan
Joe Locke
Luques Curtis
Mark Whitfield Jr.
Essiet Essiet
The Bad Plus
Spanish Harlem Orchestra
20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know
Comments
PREVIOUS / NEXT
Thomas Marriott Concerts
Sep
23
Tue
Freefall
Seattle Jazz FellowshipSeattle, WA
Oct
7
Tue
Freefall
Seattle Jazz FellowshipSeattle, WA
Oct
21
Tue
Freefall
Seattle Jazz FellowshipSeattle, WA
Nov
4
Tue
Freefall
Seattle Jazz FellowshipSeattle, WA
Nov
18
Tue
Freefall
Seattle Jazz FellowshipSeattle, WA
Dec
2
Tue
Freefall
Seattle Jazz FellowshipSeattle, WA
Dec
16
Tue
Freefall
Seattle Jazz FellowshipSeattle, WA
Support All About Jazz
All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.
Go Ad Free!
To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.
Seattle
Concert Guide | Venue Guide | Local Businesses
| More...
Buy Now
