Marcus Shelby New Orchestra

To celebrate Thelonious Monk’s birthday — an SFJAZZ tradition — Marcus Shelby and his New Orchestra honor the large ensemble work of the iconoclasic jazz legend with special guests including pianist Cyrus Chestnut, saxophonist Sarah Hanahan, and vibraphonist Warren Wolf. 

Bassist, composer, arranger, educator and bandleader Marcus Shelby is a figure synonymous with Bay Area jazz and the spirit of collaboration. A recipient of the Charles Mingus Scholarship, Shelby attended Cal Arts and studied with Charlie Haden and James Newton while working simultaneously with the all-star jazz ensemble Black/Note, who released a series of highly regarded albums in the 1990s. Since moving to the Bay Area, he has led a highly regarded jazz orchestra and numerous small groups, with large-scale commissions focused on the history, present, and future of the African-American experience.   

On what would have been Monk’s 109th birthday, Shelby and his band evoke the spirit of the pianist’s 1959 classic The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall and 1964’s Big Band and Quartet in Concert. Piano great and Monk disciple Cyrus Chestnut sits center stage, joined by Sarah Hanahan — a major new voice on saxophone — along with the SFJAZZ Collective’s Warren Wolf, who has a deep connection to Monk’s singular songbook.