Marquis Hill Modern Flows, Vol.2 2018

In the interim between trumpeter/composer Marquis Hill's Modern Flows EP in 2014 and this full-length sequel, he issued The Way We Play for Concord. It offered his genre blurring style in a program of (mostly) jazz standards. A year later he released the killer Meditation Tape, a recording that serves as a proper introduction to the music found here.

15 Original Compositions Continue to Blur Genre Lines and Celebrate the Distinct Black Creative Forces That Are Hip-Hop, Blues, Rock, Gospel, and Modern Perception of Jazz. On Modern Flows Vol. II, trumpeter Marquis Hill’s mission is clear: “I want to continue to blur the genre line between quote-unquote ‘jazz’ and hip-hop, because I’m a true believer that it is the same music,” he says. “their roots come from the same tree; they just blossomed on different branches.”

If 2018 was the year Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based vibraphonist Joel Ross kept turning up on acclaimed album after acclaimed album (Makaya McCraven Universal Beings, Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens In Common, James Francies Flight, Marquis Hill Modern Flows, Vol. 2), then 2019 is his year to be the star as he joins the Blue Note Records roster and releases his debut album. With the May 3 arrival of KingMaker, he adds his name to an illustrious jazz vibraphone legacy on the legendary label that extends from Milt Jackson to Bobby Hutcherson to Stefon Harris and now Ross.