Marcus Rojas (born February 23, 1963) is an American

tubist This is a list of tuba players with articles on Wikipedia. See also *Lists of musicians This is a list of lists of musicians. Genre The following are lists of musicians by style or music genre. 0–9 * List of 1970s Christian pop artist ...

from New York City.

Early life

Rojas was born in New York City on February 23, 1963, and grew up in

Red Hook, Brooklyn Red Hook is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, New York, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. It is located on a peninsula projecting into the Upper New York Bay and is bounded by the Gowanus Expressway and the Car ...

. His early influences included

Eddie Palmieri Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive. Early life Pal ...

Willie Colón William Anthony Colón Román (born April 28, 1950) is an American salsa musician and social activist. He began his career as a trombonist and also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in the politics of New York City. Colón ...

, and uncles who played percussion and trombone. He began on trombone at elementary school, then changed to tuba in junior high school. At age 15, Rojas began lessons with tubist Samuel Pilafian. He went on to attend the

High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High ...

in New York, and studied further at the New England Conservatory.

Career

"After graduation, he moved back to New York and started to work with a wide variety of musicians in different settings, including bassist

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

's Liberation Music Orchestra, composer-saxophonist

Henry Threadgill Henry Threadgill (born February 15, 1944) is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. He came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles rooted in jazz but with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating other genres of music. He h ...

's Very Very Circus, trumpeter

Lester Bowie Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Biography Born in ...

's Brass Fantasy." He has played in the orchestras of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

and the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

. Rojas formed the trio

Spanish Fly The Spanish fly (''Lytta vesicatoria'') is an aposematic emerald-green beetle in the blister beetle family (Meloidae). It is distributed across Eurasia. The species and others in its family were used in traditional apothecary preparatio ...

with Steven Bernstein and

David Tronzo David Tronzo (born 1957) is an American guitarist, best known for his innovation of pairing the techniques of electric slide guitar with the genres of bebop, modern jazz, rock, downtown music, and experimental music. He has recorded with former D ...

in 1989. He has also worked with the American Symphony Orchestra,

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, and John Zorn. He has taught at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, State University of New York at Purchase, and Brooklyn College.

Discography

As co-leader

* ''Brass Bang!'' with Steven Bernstein,

Paolo Fresu Paolo Fresu ( sc, Pàulu; born 10 February 1961) is an Italian jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, as well as a composer and arranger of music. Career Born in Berchidda, Sardinia, he picked up the trumpet at the age of 11, and played in the ba ...

Gianluca Petrella Gianluca Petrella is an Italian jazz trombonist. In 2001 he won Italy's Django d'Or Award as well as Musica Jazz's annual critics poll as Best Young Talent. In 2006 and 2007 he was featured in ''Down Beat'' magazine, winning their award for "Bes ...

(Bonsai/Tuk, 2014) * ''Tattoos And Mushrooms'' with Steven Bernstein, Kresten Osgood (ILK Music, 2009)

As sideman

With Bob Belden * 1991 ''Straight to My Heart: The Music of Sting'' * 2001 ''Black Dahlia'' With David Byrne * 1994 '' David Byrne'' * 2012 ''

Love This Giant ''Love This Giant'' is a studio album made in collaboration between musicians David Byrne and St. Vincent (Annie Clark), released on 4AD and Todo Mundo on 10 September 10, 2012, in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States. ...

'' With

Thomas Chapin Thomas Chapin (March 9, 1957 – February 13, 1998) was an American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist. Though primarily an alto saxophonist, he also played sopranino, as well as soprano, tenor, baritone saxes and flute. Ma ...

* 1992 ''Insomnia'' * 1999 ''Alive'' With Dave Douglas * '' Mountain Passages'' ( Greenleaf, 2005) * '' Spirit Moves'' (Greenleaf, 2009) * '' United Front: Brass Ecstasy at Newport'' (Greenleaf, 2011) * ''

Rare Metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustr ...

'' (Greenleaf, 2011) With

* 1994 ''Rags to Britches'' * 1996 ''Fly by Night'' With Sting * 2009 '' If on a Winter's Night...'' * 2010 ''

Symphonicities ''Symphonicities'' is the tenth studio album by English musician Sting, released on 13 July 2010 on Deutsche Grammophon. This is his first studio album featuring new recordings of existing songs (the second one to date being the 2019 studio alb ...

'' * 2013 '' The Last Ship'' With

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a ...

* 2004 '' Indestructible Object'' * 2011 '' Album Raises New And Troubling Questions'' With

* ''

Too Much Sugar for a Dime ''Too Much Sugar for a Dime'' is an album by Henry Threadgill, released in 1993 on the Axiom label. It has been described as: "a mad, glorious romp which explores some very dark timbres and tonalities and yet remains witty, fresh and consistent ...

'' ( Axiom, 1993) * '' Carry the Day'' ( Columbia, 1994) * '' Makin' a Move'' (Columbia, 1995) With

Loudon Wainwright III Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor. He has released twenty-six studio albums, four live albums, and six compilations. Some of his best-known songs include "The Swimmin ...

* 2009 '' High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project'' * 2012 '' Older Than My Old Man Now'' With

Victor Wooten Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988 and a member of the band SMV with two other ...

* 2012 ''Sword & Stone'' * 2012 ''Words & Tones'' With John Zorn * 1992 '' John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory'' * 2002 '' Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2'' * 2011 '' The Satyr's Play / Cerberus'' With others * 1987 ''No Dummies Allowed'', Charlie Persip * 1991 ''Spirit of Nuff...Nuff'', Very Very Circus * 1996 ''Mundo Civilizado'',

Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation '' No New York''. I ...

* 1999 ''Hold the Elevator'', Orange Then Blue * 2000 ''Muy Divertido!'',

Marc Ribot Marc Ribot (; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, rock, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Wai ...

* 2001 ''Songs I Heard'', Harry Connick Jr. * 2003 ''Alegría'',

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...

* 2004 ''

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13th ol ...

'',

Wadada Leo Smith Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Free ...

* 2004 ''While the Music Lasts'',

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* 2008 ''Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy & Peace'',

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

* 2009 ''Arrow'', Clare & the Reasons * 2009 ''Declaration'',

Donny McCaslin Donald Paul McCaslin (born August 11, 1966) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has recorded over a dozen albums as a bandleader in addition to many sideman appearances, including on David Bowie's final studio album, '' Blackstar'' (2016). Early ...

* 2009 ''Tattoos & Mushrooms'', Steven Bernstein * 2009 '' Trombone Tribe'',

Roswell Rudd Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. (November 17, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American jazz trombonist and composer. Although skilled in a variety of genres of jazz (including Dixieland, which he performed while in college), and other genres of musi ...

* 2010 ''Girls Need Attention'', Richard Julian * 2010 ''Heavy Dreaming'', Ryan Keberle * 2011 ''The Gaddabouts'', The Gaddabouts * 2012 ''Manhattan Jazz Orchestra Plays Disney'', Manhattan Jazz Orchestra * 2016 ''

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'', Paul Simon

References

External links

Marcus Rojas: Finding the Sound World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Marcus 1963 births 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American musicians American jazz tubists American music educators American tubists Avant-garde jazz tubists Brooklyn College faculty Living people American male jazz musicians Manhattan School of Music faculty Musicians from Brooklyn New England Conservatory alumni New York University faculty State University of New York at Purchase faculty Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century tubists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians People from Red Hook, Brooklyn Spanish Fly (band) members Ilk Records artists