Confluence: Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra

el Greco

When a band achieves that perfect confluence of fine composition, tight arrangment, technical virtuousity, and chemistry, the result is magic. Marcus Shelby's Jazz Orchestra found that confluence during their Saturday night gig at Jazz at Pearl's.



Marcus Shelby, bassist, composer, and arranger, began as a band leader in 1990 in Los Angeles. His current group, the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, was formed in the Bay Area in 2000.

The intimate confines of Jazz at Pearl's in North Beach (San Francisco) were the perfect spot for Shelby to swing through a mix of jazz standards and original compositions. The band kicked it off with two Shelby-composed pieces before settling down into a fine rendition of Theolonius Monk's Straight, No Chaser.

Shelby then moved into his most ambitious composition to date, performing six of fifteen movements from his original ballet score, Port Chicago. Shelby's melodic and adventurous composition would have been the perfect accompaniment for a dance troupe--if only there could have been one! The band wrapped it up with two pieces from Duke Ellington's Harlem Nutcracker, that swinging jazz interpretation of the Nutcracker Suite.

Marcus Shelby and his group brings a style of swing to the Bay Area that holds up to anything the New York jazz clubs offer. Catch them at one of their frequent Bay Area appearances.



audio track from Marcus Shelby's Port Chicago

the scoop on Jazz at Pearl's