This one is easy: Jazz just really resonated with who I am as a person. When and why did jazz become your genre of choice? I also learned what touring life was really like, how to live with nine other musicians with different personalities and get along with them. I learned so much from this experience and just visiting and experiencing different cultures and walks of life. I also got to meet and perform with Prince! We got to do some really cool things, like play at Madison Square Garden, the White House numerous times, the Sydney Opera House, the Grammys, American Idol, Saturday Night Live, the Letterman show, and the list goes on. The Janelle Monáe years were really great. What have you learned from touring with her? Talk about your experiences with Janelle Monáe. I met Janelle Monáe and joined her band, which was probably the biggest jump in my career to date. I released my first CD while I was there.Īlso, it’s where I started to do a lot of recording and did some really great gigs with Aretha Franklin and Quincy Jones to name a few. It’s where I met some really key players in the development of my career. Atlanta was where I really got my first big gig, with Sugarfoot’s Ohio Players. Atlanta is really comfortable for me because I’m originally from Georgia. It also helped me develop a concept for playing and how I teach my students today. It helped me build some relationships and a network of musicians who I still work with today. Yes, I got my undergrad degree in jazz performance from Valdosta State University, and my master’s in trombone performance from the University Nebraska-Omaha.Ĭollege was important for my development because it help me learn how to play, how to practice and learn the theory behind music. How did that prepare you for a career in music But a goal of mine is to get better at piano, bass, and drums so I can have a better understanding of music and how it all works together. I dabble at the piano enough just to write and arrange music. I don’t really play any other instruments well. It can get certain nuances that other instruments can’t. I like the fact that the trombone is very different than most other wind instruments and is the closest sound to the human male voice. What do you like most about the trombone? I just saw them and knew that I wanted to do that because it looked cool. I honestly thought it just looked different than all the other instruments, and when I saw them at parades they were always in the front of the band. I decided to play the trombone when I was 12. When did you decide on the trombone and why? I listened to a lot of Motown, R&B, funk, ’80s pop, and hip-hop. What kind of music did you listen to growing up? My parents definitely like music, but I am the first musician in my family. I used to take a big boom box and break dance in recreational parks because my dad was always playing softball. Listening to music in the house and on car trips was a huge part of my childhood. I knew I loved music at a very young age, but didn’t get started playing until the sixth grade. How old were you when music entered your life? Lewis recently answered some questions from IN Kansas City about his career, his time with Monáe, and his perspectives on Kansas City’s jazz scene. In 2018 he released the full-length album Brass and Boujee, a compelling mix of big-band jazz, R&B, and hip-hop. Lewis performs around Kansas City in various forms, most conspicuously with the Marcus Lewis Big Band, which can be as big as 22 members. The Georgia native brought with him a resume decorated with glory, including stints with Sugarfoot’s Ohio Player and Janelle Monáe’s touring band. When Marcus Lewis moved to Kansas City about six years ago, he quickly became a big part of its jazz community-big as in a big-band way.
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