Marcus Elliot

This week my guest is Marcus Elliot, a saxophonist, composer and educator from Detroit, Michigan, USA. He is the current director of the University of Michigan's Creative Arts Orchestra and his compositions and improvisations have been described by the New York Times as "convincing and confident, evolved in touch and tone...", and the Detroit Free Press has said that, "Marcus Elliot represents the next generation of jazz".

Marcus has experienced several pivotal life changing moments over the last few years. Not only was his first child, a son, Elijah born but also his father, who had suffered a debilitating stroke in 2017, sadly passed away. These experiences became the inspiration for a newly commissioned piece, “Fill the Room With Light” - which was performed for the first time last September with New Music Detroit.

In this episode we discuss the creation of the piece “Fill the Room With Light” and how Marcus' music has given him an insight into grief and the gifts that his father gave him.

Marcus says:

A week after I began writing the music, my father was put into hospice care. My visitations with my dad were filled with prayer, meditation, singing, listening to music, and playing music for him.

This commission allowed me to take the time to emotionally process the heavy, beautiful moments I had with my father. It allowed me to channel the emotions I was going through and transform them with music. For that, I am forever grateful.

You can find more information about Marcus by visiting his website: https://www.marcuselliotmusic.com

Feels Like Healing is a show where I talk to individuals about how they've used creativity as a way of helping them heal.

These conversations are here to show how we find comfort and solace through the act of being creative and how creativity can help us all reach a place of healing.

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Produced / Edited by Al Lewis

Theme music by Al Lewis

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