Marcus Gilmore (born October 10, 1986) is an American jazz drummer. In 2009, New York Times critic Ben Ratliff included Gilmore in his list of drummers who are "finding new ways to look at the drum set, and at jazz itself", saying, "he created that pleasant citywide buzz when someone new and special blows through New York clubs and jam sessions".[1]
Biography
Marcus Gilmore is a multi-Grammy award winning drummer, composer, producer, and educator.
The New York based musician has been recognized with numerous awards, residencies, and fellowships - including becoming a protégé of the 2018 Rolex Mentors And Protégé project.[4]
Gilmore, in all his playing, integrates a unique style where he is musically expanding rhythm, while supporting the great musicians with whom he plays.
In June 2023, Marcus premiered his full composition with the American Composers Orchestra, in NYC.
He has worked 23 years as a professional musician and performed in over 60 countries throughout his career.
Upcoming projects include: the release of his highly anticipated debut album, his innovative Marcus Gilmore Solo, Trio, and Quintet engagements, and the continued exploration of percussion with new sound compositions and rhythms thrilling music audiences worldwide.
Awards and honors
Marcus Gilmore is the recipient of several awards such as a Latin Grammy Award for his work with pianist and composer Chick Corea.[5]
Marcus was introduced as one of the “25 for the Future” by DownBeat magazine in 2016.[6]
Gilmore was featured on the cover of the June 2019 issue of Modern Drummer.
Musical style
Like his grandfather Roy Haynes, Gilmore draws upon a wide variety of influences from Tony Williams to free jazz drummer Milford Graves.[7] When talking about Graves in Modern Drummer, he said "A lot of Milford’s playing deals with rhythm, but not in a very metric way—it’s non-metric, a lot of waves. It’s still melodic, even more so because it’s very linguistic. Milford doesn’t even really play snares. He keeps the snares off. His drumming sounds very melodic and very lyrical. It sounds like a language."[8] He has specifically cited Elvin Jones on the album Speak No Evil and Tony Williams' Lifetime as influences.