Marcos Varela / Marcos Varela Quartet
New York, NY
Grant amount: $13,930
Performances
San Ygnacio Zócalo. San Ygnacio, TX. 10/11/2021
Monks Jazz Club. Austin, TX. 10/13/2021
Discovery Green. Houston, TX. 10/15/2021
About the Artist
Marcos Varela is a musician, composer, producer, band leader, and teacher. He is among the most well-respected bass musicians in the jazz and contemporary music scene, in NYC and internationally. In his hometown of Houston, Marcos Varela attended the High School for the Performing & Visual Arts (HSPVA), a celebrated magnet school with notable alumni including Jason Moran and Robert Glasper. At HSPVA, Varela was selected for the TX All State Jazz Orchestra and was named an NFAA/YoungArts Fellow. Upon graduation, Varela attended the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music, receiving a Bachelor’s in Music Performance & Composition.
After college, Varela was selected to participate in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program and the Ravinia Festival / Steans Music Institute. Varela continues to be very active in the NYC jazz and contemporary music scene, performing with The Mingus Big Band, John Holiday, George Cables, Ingrid Jensen, Billy Hart, Antoine Roney, Charli Persip, Clifton Anderson, Jason Moran, Geri Allen, The Last Poets, Leslie Odom, Jr., Frank Lacy’s Vibe Tribe, Kendrick Scott, Billy Harper, and Tyshawn Sorey, and was selected as a member of Jazz at Lincoln Center trombonist Vincent Gardner’s Jazz Houston. In 2016, Varela released his debut album San Ygnacio on Origin Records. Varela led an All-Star band in performing the album at the historic Jazz á Liège Festival in Belgium, sharing a billing with Fred Hersch’s Trio. Varela also led an all-star quartet at Prishtina’s Jazz Week in Kosovo in March 2020.
Sam Dillon (saxophone) has performed at Carnegie Hall, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Smoke Jazz Club, Iridium, Yoshi's Jazz Club, Smalls Jazz Club, 55 Bar, Zinc Bar, the Kitano Hotel, Cornelia Street Cafe and live on WBGO 88.3 FM. As well as leading his own groups, Sam has performed with The Joe Chambers “Moving Pictures” Jazz Orchestra, The Smoke Big Band, The Artie Shaw Jazz Orchestra, The Cecilia Coleman Big Band and The Paris Wight Quintet featuring David Weiss.
Jay Sawyer (drums) has shared the stage with artists such as Freddy Cole, John McNeil, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Donny McCaslin, Benito Gonzalez, and Shai Maestro. Jay is also a first call drummer for many up-and-coming musicians in NYC including Itamar Borochov, Caroline Davis, Tomoko Omura, John Raymond and more. He has toured extensively in the US and Europe, including performances at the Montreal, Detroit and Chicago Jazz Festivals, Festival Eclats d’Email in Limoges, France.
Guitarist Perry Smith’s extensive performance resume includes notable venues and festivals such as the Blue Note Jazz Club (NYC & Tokyo), Smalls Jazz Club, Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Montreal Jazz Festival, Java Jazz Festival (Indonesia), Jazz a la Calle (Uruguay), Rochester Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Yoshi's Jazz Club, The Blue Whale (LA), and more.
Varela has toured with individuals in this band, but has never been able to tour this exact band.