Marquis Hill Composers Collective

After Chicago trumpeter Marquis Hill won the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Trumpet Competition in 2014, his career took off. The prize earned him a contract with Concord Records, where he released The Way We Play in 2016.

In his music, he effortlessly mixes influences from hip-hop, spoken word and drum 'n' bass with more traditional jazz sounds. All these movements can be traced back to the same African-American musical sources. 'It all comes from the same tree, it's just different branches. That's how I experience music. I grew up with Motown, Marvin Gaye, R&B. Then I got my first jazz album from Lee Morgan… I really believe that all that music is ultimately the same,' says Marquis Hill.

His unique sound comes from the subtone technique: Hill lets the abundant air from his mouth flow into the trumpet, which makes the sound a little rawer and gives it something superhuman.

For his new album Composers Collective: Beyond the Jukebox - released by Black Unlimited Music Group - Marquis Hill asked a number of musician friends to provide compositions. This resulted in a diverse bouquet of styles, with Hill's bright, sometimes muted trumpet notes always playing a central role. Once again, jazz is deeply rooted in soul, hip-hop and gospel.