Marc Cary
Lounging on the Parlor floor of the Langston Hughes house in Harlem, pianist and composer Marc Cary is as cool and collected as they come. The brownstone once inhabited by the renowned poet is currently being transformed into a studio and performance space. Taking his inspiration from Abbey Lincoln, with whom Cary played with for many years, he plans to transform the Parlor level into a refuge for artists and musicians.
In the meanwhile the FOCUS Trio featuring Marc Cary will release their debut album, FOCUS, on the Motema label. Cary anticipates it with calm earnestness; "With this trio I'm really trying to focus all energy into swinging and expressing myself in the best way possible."
The FOCUS Trio consists of Sameer Gupta on drums and tabla and David Ewell on bass. The three musicians met about five years ago on the Left coast. Cary was introduced to Sameer Gupta through close associate and jazz impresario Charles Brack, whom Cary met while playing with trumpeter Russell Gunn at the San Francisco Jazz Festival.
Marc Cary coming from a traditional jazz background lays the musical foundation, incorporating his Native American roots. However, Gupta and Ewell also season the sonic landscape with their Indian and Chinese roots. Gupta incorporates classical Indian rhythmic and melodic concepts. With David Ewell's bass playing you can hear tonal centers that are based around scales you may hear in traditional Chinese music.
The FOCUS project is one that seeks to cross-pollinate. The attractive part of working with these particular musicians is that they bring something to jazz rather than assimilating into the idiom. Cary doesn't advocate abandoning one's own culture to learn jazz. "To me, if you're going to learn jazz, you should have something to bring. Cats don't think about bringing much, the just want to see what they can get from the music. It's a two way street." For Cary it's the Go-Go contribution he brought to acoustic jazz back in the early 90s.
On this debut recording of his FOCUS Trio, pianist Marc Cary brings into sharp focus his many influences - from deep-feeling indigenous world rhythms to bop to classical lyricism. Cary's imaginative key-work, well known from his gigs with Stefon Harris, Betty Carter, Abby Lincoln, Roy Hargrove, and Wynton Marsalis, among others, gained him a recent nod from/ Down Beat/ as one of the four "most multi-dimensional" keyboard players on the scene today. His new release, FOCUS (June 27 Release, Motema Music), reveals those multi-dimensions in sensual living color.