Faculty pianist Marc Seales is joined by UW colleagues Steve Rodby (bass) and John-Carlos Perea (flute) and special guests Thomas Marriott (trumpet) and Moyes Lucas (drums) for this concert of original tunes and unique arrangements of jazz and pop classics.
Biographies
Moyes Lucas
Los Angeles drummer Moyes Lucas developed his love for the drums at an early age, from the time his dad took him to his first parade. His father, a part-time drummer and sax player, introduced his son to the talents and sounds of jazz greats like Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakely, and The Heath Brothers.
Growing up, Lucas appreciated several musical styles and grew intrigued with the sounds of the band Chicago, especially the integration of the horns. He played their music continually, using anything he could to simulate a drum set. Understanding that he needed a real drum set to improve his own talents, he got a paper-route, repaired lawnmowers, and eventually saved up the $300 he needed to buy his first set of drums: a used Ludwig drum set, complete with cymbals.
Moyes attended Western Washington University, where he was greatly influenced by Bill Cole, director of the jazz department. He earned money playing in local jazz taverns and doing studio work. After college he moved to Seattle. By this time his musical style included rock.
Today Moyes lives in the Los Angeles area and continues to work and tour with many talented artists.
Thomas Marriott
Trumpeter, composer, and producer Thomas Marriott is a force for jazz on the west coast. He’s paid dues beside jazz elders such as Maynard Ferguson, Roy McCurdy, Roger Humphries, Mike Clark and Stix Hooper, and has been called on by contemporary standard-bearers like Joe Locke, Orrin Evans, Steve Wilson, and Charlie Hunter.
A chameleon of musical styles, Marriott’s horn has been in-demand with bands like the Grammy-Award winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Captain Black Big Band, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstafunk, hip-hop pioneer Deltron 3030 , and vocalists Kurt Elling, Ernestine Anderson, Michael Feinstein and Rosemary Clooney.
His own albums, 14 in all, have reached number one on the jazz radio airplay charts, earned 4 1/2 stars in Downbeat, and have been featured on NPR. Thomas Marriott has won 9 Golden Ear Awards, the Carmine Caruso Trumpet Competition, is the youngest inductee into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame, spent more than 20 seasons as a soloist with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and is founder of Seattle Jazz Fellowship, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting jazz music and jazz culture in Seattle. In 2024 he was named a “Jazz Hero” by the Jazz Journalists Association.