Marquis Hill
Exhibition & Residency:
January 2 – March 30, 2015

Marquis Hill was raised in the Chatham neighborhood-on Chicago’s South Side. Taking up the drum kit in the fourth grade, he soon heeded the inspiration of his cousin and ‘added’ trumpet to his precocious studies. The young composer-performer was soon a member of the South Shore Youth Jazz Ensemble and the Ravinia Jazz Scholars, in the latter of which he came into contact with mentors Bobby Broom, Tito Carillo, and Willie Pickens.

In 2009, Hill graduated from Northern Illinois University; having uniquely achieved the BA in Music Education, he deepened his preparation with Masters in Jazz Pedagogy at DePaul University. Hill has often taught high school students at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. In 2012, Hill joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Hill also went to Atlanta that year to win the International Trumpet Guild jazz competition. Most recently Marquis Hill won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet competition (2014).

Hill has become one of the most in-demand jazz trumpeters in the Windy City. Leading his Blacktet, the trumpeter also works with saxophonist Ernest Dawkins, pianist Willerm Delisfort, bassist Matt Ulery, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, and other groups.

The Make Jazz Fellowship and related programs are made possible through the generosity of the Herb Alpert Foundation.

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