Marc McDonald c.v.

Saxophonist and composer Marc McDonald's music possesses a warm, lyrical quality while spanning a broad emotional range. If the best jazz tells stories, then McDonald's tales run the gamut from joyous to poignant and exhilarating to contemplative.

In fall 2005, McDonald will release his first CD as a leader, featuring his own compositions and arrangements of standards. His mainstream jazz group has performed extensively throughout the United States from New York to Hawaii, and also in London, England.

He first performed in Athens as a member of the orchestra for "Magic of Musicals" at the Hora Theatre in 1999-2000, and returned in 2001 and 2003 to play at the Half Note Club with cabaret singer Quinn Lemley. He has also performed at Parafono, in 2002 with George Kontrafouris and in 2004 backed by the Giorgos Micros Trio.

McDonald has been active as a sideman in a variety of contexts, including jazz, rock, R&B, avant-garde classical and even Ukrainian polka. Since 1998, he has been a member of the Jamie Begian Big Band ("A crack large ensemble" - TimeOut NY). He is a featured soloist on the band's first CD, Trance, and appeared with them at the 2003 International Jazz Educators Association conference in Toronto, Canada.

In the early 90's, McDonald made a series of guest appearances with Grammy-winning alternative rock vocalist Henry Rollins, appearing with the Rollins Band in England and on tour in the United States. His other rock work includes an appearance on the major label CD "White Pepper" by Ween, whom London's Guardian newspaper called "the last great American cult band".

As a composer, McDonald divides his time between writing for his own jazz group and other projects. In 1990, he was one of ten jazz composers invited to participate in the ASCAP/Louis Armstrong Jazz Composers Workshop at New York's Lincoln Center, and he is also an alumnus of the prestigious BMI Jazz Composers Workshop in New York. In the years 1991 and 1994-96, the Trenton (N.J.) Avant Garde (TAG) Festival invited McDonald to premiere works for jazz chamber ensemble, solo saxophone and saxophone quartet.

McDonald is also active in music education, currently as a private instructor and formerly as a member of the artist faculty at the Princeton Conservatory of Music from 1994-1999.

 

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