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Steve Marcus

Steve Marcus, a jazz saxophonist who was an early exponent of the style that came to be known as fusion. A graduate of the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Marcus, who played tenor and soprano saxophones, had worked with Stan Kenton, Woody Herman and Herbie Mann by the time he recorded his first album as a leader in 1968. "Tomorrow Never Knows," produced by Mann, was not the typical journeyman jazzman's maiden effort. With a supporting cast that included the rock-influenced electric guitarist Larry Coryell and a repertory that included the Byrds' hit "Eight Miles High" and the Beatles song that gave the album its title, it was one of the first attempts by a jazz musician to find common ground with the growing phenomenon of psychedelic rock. It was dismissed by some as a sellout but applauded by others as an adventurous blend of the new rock and the avant-garde jazz of John Coltrane. Two albums in a similar vein, "Count's Rock Band" and "The Lord's Prayer," also produced by Mann, followed in 1969. Marcus's synthesis of jazz and rock anticipated a movement, eventually christened fusion, that would come to be identified with Miles Davis and other well-known names. But he himself had limited success as a bandleader. In 1975, after two short-lived attempts at leading his own group, he returned to straight-ahead jazz and joined the big band led by the drummer Buddy Rich. He was a featured soloist until Rich died in 1987, and he remained identified with Rich for the rest of his life - briefly as the musical director of a memorial big band and in recent years as a member of Buddy's Buddies, a quintet led by the drummer Steve Smith that plays Rich's music.

Steve Marcus: Steve Marcus Project

Read "Steve Marcus Project" reviewed by Ivana Ng

by Ivana Ng
October 10, 2007

Steve Marcus Project contains some of the tenor and soprano saxophonist's last recorded performances (he died in October 2005), but oddly opens with “Oleo, recorded by his sidemen--guitarist Bill Bickford, bassist Rick Petrone and percussionist Joe Corsello--without him. The fact that Marcus does not play on the first track sets a certain tone; one keeps expecting his lilting saxophone to come in but it never does. Although Bickford is a skilled guitarist and Corsello an imaginative drummer, “Oleo feels lackluster; ...

Event

Buddy Rich Alumni Band Performs at Feb. 12 Free Jazz Memorial for Steve Marcus in New York

Source: All About Jazz
February 10, 2006

Buddy Rich Alumni Band Performs at Free Jazz Concert at Memorial for Saxophonist Steve Marcus

The 16-piece Buddy Rich Alumni Band, led by drummer Steve Smith, will play at a free memorial service for jazz saxophonist Steve Marcus from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, February 12, at St. Peter's Lutheran Church on 54th Street and Lexington Ave. in New York City.

Also performing will be Buddy's Buddies, featuring saxophonist Andy Fusco. Speakers at the event, which is open to ...
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Obituary

Saxophonist Steve Marcus dead at 66

Source: All About Jazz
September 28, 2005

NEW HOPE, Pa. (AP) - Steve Marcus, a jazz saxophonist who recorded and toured with Stan Kenton, Herbie Mann and Buddy Rich, died Sunday. He was 66.

Marcus died in his sleep at his home in New Hope, family members said.

He was a pioneer of the jazz fusion movement of the late 1960s, a musical movement that combined elements of rock 'n' roll and jazz.

Marcus had been touring lately with the quintet “Steve Smith and Buddy's Buddies," a ...
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Performance / Tour

Brian Trainor / Steve Marcus Quartet

Source: All About Jazz
April 9, 2005

Music Industry

LARRY CORYELL * STEVE MARCUS * STEVE SMITH * KAI ECKHARDT - COUNT'S JAM BAND - REUNION (Tone Center)

Source: All About Jazz

Before fusion became popular in the early 70s, there was a community of musicians in NYC experimenting with Jazz/Rock in the mid-to-late 60s. Two of the leaders of this movement were guitarist Larry Coryell and saxophonist Steve “The Count" Marcus. They documented these radical new ideas on two classic recordings made in 1967 and 1968 using the name Count's Rock Band. The two musicians also collaborated on many of Larry Coryell's late 60s and early 70s recordings.

Once Coryell started ...
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