Adept on both the soprano and tenor saxophone as well as the clarinet, Marcus Strickland was one of a new wave of American jazz musicians who emerged in the early part of the 21st century to regenerate the genre, reaching new audiences by drawing on wide-ranging influences, while establishing himself with the band Twi-Life. Aligned with like-minded musicians such as Jeremy Pelt and Robert Glasper and working closely with his twin brother, drummer E.J. Strickland, he was influenced as much by funk, soul, Afrobeat and hip-hop artists as the regular jazz greats.
The son of a drummer, he grew up in Gainesville, Florida and by his own description came from a very mixed musical background, listening to everything from Haitian music to Afro Cuban traditions to street rappers, while his father introduced him Stevie Wonder, P-Funk and John Coltrane. All of his influences flavoured his own musical education and his subsequent development as an open-minded musician eager to explore new areas. Both Marcus and his brother E.J. went on to study at art college, which effectively became a musical hotbed of sessions which helped trigger a new generation of modernistic jazz stars, among them Robert Glasper, Bilal Oliver and Keyon Harrold. He made his first significant mark playing with well-regarded drummer Roy Haynes, releasing his first two albums 'At Last' and 'Brotherhood' in 2001 and 2003 respectively, with Strickland playing both soprano and tenor sax and also singing.
He went on to tour with Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Roy Haynes and Dave Douglas, as well as his own band and in 2006 he made another considerable leap with the double album 'Twi-Life', featuring two separate quartets of young jazz musicians predominantly playing his own compositions; one a set of commercial material while the other quartet reflected his more experimental side. The album also featured an acclaimed version of Wayne Shorter's classic 'Oriental Folk Song' and, achieving much attention, the album led to an ambitious touring band under the Twi-Life name as he went on to blend jazz with Afrobeat, soul, R&B, funk, ska, reggae and hip-hop. It brought him awards in jazz polls as his compositions became ever more daring, wide-ranging and ambitious - notably on the 'Idiosyncracies' album of 2007 and he toured with Mos Def, Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride, Tom Harrell and the Charles Tolliver Big Band. In 2015 he spread his wings even further, signing to the classic Blue Note jazz label and released the 'Nihil Novi' album, showcasing a new band and focusing on hip-hop beats as well as African and Latin rhythms. Produced by Meshell N'Degeocello it featured a variety of guests including kora player Banzoumana Sissoko and singer Christie Dashiell. It was followed in 2018 by 'People of the Sun', another inventive effort tracing the link from African ancestry to black American music, drawing on West African 'griot' styles and more modern beat music and featuring Ghanaian percussion master Weedie Braimah.
