Home » Jazz Musicians » Marvin Sewell

Marvin Sewell

Marvin Sewell was born and raised in Chicago. He learned how to play the guitar by hanging out with many Chicago basement bands. At that time, Marvin was exposed to a variety of styles of music such as: Blues, Gospel, and Soul. Rock, and Fusion. At the same time, he played in a Catholic church in a guitar band playing acoustic guitar. A few years later he became interested in Jazz. In high school, he started playing with the Malcolm X Community College Big Band. From there he started playing with many famous local Chicago musicians such as Von Freeman, Ramsey Lewis, Billy Branch, Jody Christian, Big Time Sarah, and Barbara La Shore, He attended Roosevelt University in Chicago where he studied Composition.

Marvin moved to New York in 1990. His very first tour in New York was with an Algerian Pop music band. Since in New York, Marvin has played with various bands of different styles of music, ranging from acoustic to electric music. In 1992, Marvin made his first major Jazz band when he began working with Jack Dejohnette’s Special Edition. At that same time, he was playing with Jazz cellist Diedre Murray and Jazz Bassist Fred Hopkins. The following year he recorded albums with Jack Dejohnette, Diedre Murray, and Gary Thomas. That same year he played in Hannibal Peterson’s composition African Portraits, an opera in which he played blues slide guitar in collaboration with the St. Louis Symphony, New Music Symphony, and the Westchester Symphony Orchestra. Marvin has performed and recorded with David Sandborn, Marcus Miller, Jorge Sylvester, Greg Osby, Joe Lovano, George Benson, Sekou Sanidiata, Peter Herborn, and a host of many other esteemed musicians.

In 1995, he began playing with Cassandra Wilson with whom he played a variety of string instruments for six years. On Cassandra Wilson’s CD, Traveling Miles, Marvin co wrote the song, Right Here, Right Now with Cassandra. Before leaving Cassandra Wilson, he was the music director of her band for a little over a year. In the summer of 2001, Marvin went on tour with Sekou Sandiata along with Ani Difranco. While out on tour, Marvin got a chance to share the stage with Ani Difranco.

In 2002, Marvin did a tour of eastern Africa with the Newsome, Sewell, and Harris Trio. The group performed in Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius Today, Marvin spends most of his time writing music for his own band, The Marvin Sewell Group.

Read more

Tags

4
Album Review

Christian Sands: Christmas Stories

Read "Christmas Stories" reviewed by Dave Linn


Early on, Christian Sands had a passion for music. He was enrolled in music classes at age four and wrote his first composition at age five. He started playing professionally at the age of ten and studied at the Center for the Arts in New Haven, Connecticut before receiving his Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. A protégé of Dr. Billy Taylor, Sands released his debut album at the age of 12 and came ...

Album Review

Jean-Paul Bourelly: Black Lives - From Generation to Generation

Read "Black Lives - From Generation to Generation" reviewed by Vic Albani


Doppio CD o doppio vinile prodotto in HI-Res e con packaging di lusso dalla Jammin'colorS, agenzia per artisti jazz, world, funk, alternativi, hip-hop, electro e sperimentali nonché etichetta indipendente. Il lavoro che ha pubblicato in tanta pompa magna è un ampio collage di musica nera realizzato da 25 musicisti africani, caraibici e afroamericani guidati dalla visione creativa di Stefany Calembert (compagna del bassista jazz Reggie Washington) e produttrice estemporanea dell'etichetta belga. A tutti è stato chiesto di comporre ...

2
Album Review

Hanka G: Universal Ancestry

Read "Universal Ancestry" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


For a recording that combines, jazz, rock, gospel soul and r&b with Slovakian folk melodies, look no farther. Hanka G, who has artists as different as Abbey Lincoln and McCoy Tyner as her models, was raised in Mongolia, coming to the United States in 2018. This is her first stateside recording, and it is an innovative album for people fond of crossing cultures, mindscapes, ethnic and racial boundaries. She kicks things off with a grittier, rougher version of ...

11
Album Review

Various Artists: Black Lives - From Generation to Generation

Read "Black Lives - From Generation to Generation" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Indeed, African Americans are the architects of several musical formations, hearkening back to Scott Joplin's development of 'ragged' rhythms i.e., Ragtime, along with blues, funk, jazz, and other genres, often evolving into various tangents and offshoots. And on this comprehensively entertaining set produced by Belgian Stefany Calembert with assistance from her husband and acclaimed bassist Reggie Washington, they righteously bestow Black Music as a “source of moral truth and potent weapon against racism." Numerous stars such as saxophonist ...

6
Interview

Marvin Sewell: Stepping Up to the Plate

Read "Marvin Sewell: Stepping Up to the Plate" reviewed by George Colligan


[ Editor's Note: The following interview is reprinted from George Colligan's blog, Jazztruth]Marvin Sewell might be the greatest guitarist you've never heard of. I first met Sewell at a recording session in 1995. (Sewell, saxophonist Gary Thomas, and I improvised over hip-hop tracks for two days; these sessions were edited into what become Thomas' Overkill: Murder In The Worst Degree, an album that we promoted in Europe on tours in 1995 and 1996.) I was struck immediately by ...

213
Album Review

The Marvin Sewell Group: The Worker's Dance

Read "The Worker's Dance" reviewed by Mark F. Turner


Like many young artists, guitarist Marvin Sewell's musical influences include not only jazz but also classical, popular, experimental, and other styles. But the one that is most evident and clearly spoken in Sewell's own vocabulary would seem to be the blues. His abilities on the guitar are spoken with a deep sense of history, energy, and soul, as most notably witnessed with songstress Cassandra Wilson on Travelling Miles and Belly of the Sun and jazz pianist Jason Moran on his ...

158
Album Review

Jason Moran: Same Mother

Read "Same Mother" reviewed by Mark Sabbatini


Jason Moran is among a handful of modern pianists whose work often demands a listen as soon as it's released, since most other players will be trying to imitate it tomorrow. He doesn't quite meet those expectations on Same Mother, an album heavy on blues and soundtrack elements that represents his sixth project as a leader. Partially this is his emphasis on a classic down-home Texas feel, but there's also a sense of a highly tuned engine coasting at a ...

Read more articles

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Christmas Stories

Mack Avenue Records
2023

buy

Break The Chains

Ropeadope
2022

buy

Ghost Song

Nonesuch Records
2022

buy

Universal Ancestry

Culture Bridge Records
2022

buy

Black Lives - From...

Jammin' Colors
2022

buy

Mayhem At Large - The...

RedZen Records
2021

buy

Break The Chains

From: Break The Chains
By Marvin Sewell

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.