Family Matinee: Marcus Shelby Orchestra

About This Show

Bassist and bandleader Marcus Shelby is a long-range planner, assiduously assembling a vision ever since he moved to San Francisco in 1996. He teaches in schools and prisons, collaborates with theater companies, filmmakers and poets, serves as Artistic Director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, and has composed a triptych of big band suites drawn from African American history. During his tenure as SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director, Shelby came up with a novel idea.

Shelby is a baseball freak, an over-the-top fan of the San Francisco Giants, and his intention was to combine his love of the game with his passion for history at SFJAZZ. In celebration of the beginning of the 2024 baseball season, the Marcus Shelby Orchestra presents excerpts from his 2019 work Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues, a suite honoring the history of Black baseball. The excerpts performed for this Family Matinee include instrumental compositions about Satchel Paige, Rube Foster, Effa Manley, Jackie Robinson, Toni Stone, barnstorming territory bands, umpires, and much more. Plus, the entire band rocked their choice of baseball jerseys to boot!