MARQUIS HILL

MARQUIS HILL AT TURNER SIMS CONCERT HALL, SOUTHAMPTON – 29/3/22

I’ve brought a book with me tonight. Dracula. It’s taking me an age to finish and I’m a bit sick of it. I have just read the words ‘the world seems full of good men – even if there are monsters in it’ when MARQUIS HILL and his band appear, escorted by one of TURNER SIMS’ white-haired staff. It’s a curious fact, which I think I have noted before, that all the staff at Turner Sims Concert Hall have white hair. Which is great. I’m just saying.
  I’d never heard of Hill when I saw this gig advertised, but when I saw that Joel Ross (vibes) and Junius Paul (bass) were playing with him, I knew this would be special and booked a ticket without even thinking. “I just had to buy a ticket for a gig next Tuesday,” I told wife later. She didn’t seem too impressed.
  I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen anyone play the vibraphone before. I don’t think I have – certainly not properly – but I’m definitely a vibes person. I’m really into the vibes. The interplay between Ross and drummer Jeremiah Collier is pretty exciting. It makes me smile involuntarily. It amazes me that two men hitting things with sticks can be so life-affirming. I don’t think you can even call this jazz any more. It’s evolved. It seems to incorporate the whole history of Black music, and its future too. It’s deeply beautiful, soul-stirring music. Hill’s playing connects with me profoundly. I was feeling worn down when I arrived here tonight but now my soul is singing. I’m happy and I’m almost crying. I give them two standing ovations, even though not everyone else does. That’s unusual for me.
  Wife says this world I’ve created for myself is “bullshit”, but I don’t think it is. I don’t think it is at all. Not one bit.

From left to right: Joel Ross, Marquis Hill, Junius Paul, Jeremiah Collier