Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Hugh Marsh was born June 5, 1955 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and brought up in Ottawa, Ontario, where he learned to play the violin from the age of five.  While in high school, when trying to play the saxophone he was led to exploring jazz, funk and rhythm and blues. With his father’s encouragement, he transferred these improvisation skills to the electric violin.

By 1978, Marsh was invited by jazz musician Moe Koffman to perform with him in a concert series at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. This led to gigs at top Toronto clubs and to perform with Canadian jazz musicians Doug Riley, Claude Ranger, Sonny Greenwich and Don Thompson. In 1979 he joined Bruce Cockburn, recording and touring with him.

In 1984, he recorded his independent album The Bear Walks and was distributed by Duke Street Records. He was joined by Doug Riley on keyboards, Peter Cardinali on bass, and Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone. His next recording ventured into other genres mixed with jazz. Since 1990 HUgh has recorded and toured with Celtic songstress Loreena McKennitt, contributing to six multi-platinum albums and a number of world tours. He has worked with Turkish Sufi deejay Mercan Dede, and has worked with Turkish artists Ihsan Ozgen, Kani Karaca, Goksel Baktagir and Ozcan Deniz.

Marsh would go on to collaborate on film scoring projects with composers Harry Gregson Williams and Don Rooke, and with Hans Zimmer on scores for Tears of the Sun and The Da Vinci Code.

In 2004 he joined clarinetist Don Byron’s new quartet “Swiftboat”, along with bassist Kermit Driscoll, and drummer Pheeroan Aklaff. He toured as a member of trumpeter Jon Hassell’s new quartet with bassist Peter Freeman and percussionist Steve Shehan. A four-time winner of the Jazz Report Award for violinist of the year and a three-time recipient of the National Jazz Award for violinist of the year, he has been nominated for a 2007 Juno Award in the best contemporary jazz album category.

Violinist Hugh Marsh continues to perform and record across genres, regularly performing with Rheostatics.

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