Pena, Prince, & Keys

Alto and soprano saxophonist Marshall Keys has a solid, soulful tone and a knack for lines that start out as simple lines and seemingly take on a life of their own, developing into elaborate, smartly constructed melodies. He’s a true virtuoso musician who has something personal and erudite to say on the instrument.

A native of Washington DC, Marshall began began in the DC Youth Orchestra Program, then flirted with jazz studies at Howard University, all the while working with legendary jazz musicians like Jimmy Witherspoon, Jimmy Heath, Pepper Adams, Miriam Makeba, Jimmy Scott, Stevie Wonder, and the blues organistJimmy McGriff with which he recorded the album “Countdown”.

The most resume friendly span of Marshalls’ long career probably begins with the Kennedy Center Tribute to Lionel Hampton in 1981. Marshall performed the iconic “Flying Home” along with Milt Hinton, Al Grey, Clark Terry, Zoot Sims, Illinois Jacquet and Lionel Hampton. There was the Commission by the Smithsonian Institute to perform the works of Wayne Shorter, performing and speaking at the Romare Bearden Exhibit when it opened at the National Gallery of Art, tours to Central and South America, Guinea and West Africa as well as festival performances in the UK, France, Mexico, Indonesia, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands and the US Virgin Islands. All mostly before the first iPhone was released...

Marshall has stuck close to home in recent years and is unapologetic in his belief that thanks to his collaborations with the world class musicians and institutions in DC, this is the most productive and satisfying period in his long career.

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Host or Publisher BlackRock Center for the Arts