Jazz pianist Marc Cary will tell people he has “a tri-borough kind of existence;” he was born in New York, lived in Providence, R.I., until he was 6 and then spent his formative years in D.C. where he graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts before going back to New York City. “I’m an honorary Washingtonian, because I spent all my formative years here,” he explained. “Washington, D.C., is where I feel the love.”
The love will rain down on the Marc Cary Trio as they return to the Bohemian Caverns for shows on Friday and Saturday nights. Cary brings along bass player Tarus Manteen, a long-time friend and group mate from the early days. Sameer Gupta rounds out the trio on drums and the tabla, an Indian pair of drums that consists of a small right-hand drum called dayan and a larger metal one called bayan.
| Onstage |
| Marc Cary Focus Trio |
| Where: Bohemian Caverns; 2001 11th St. NW |
| When: 8: 30 and 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday |
| Info: $22 in advance, $28 at the door; 202-299-0800; bohemiancaverns.com |
“We’re all going to be surprised over what we hear [at the Caverns] because I don’t know,” Cary, who has 14 albums to his credit while having performed on an additional 35 recordings, said. “My intention is always to bring the highest level of arrangement and improvisation to my music.”
About half of the show will be original pieces; the rest are cover songs, the band’s arrangements of the classics and also Indian music, the Bollywood classics that highlight Gupta’s work on the tabla where, Cary says, “He creates all kinds of [sound], melodic and rhythmic tones and phrases.” More works will come from their album, “Focus Trio Live 2009.”
As a dynamic keyboardist, performing on both acoustic and electric pianos, Cary has been compared, in both style and personal expression, with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Duke Ellington and Randy Weston. His extensive credits include work with jazz legends, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln and Art Taylor.
Naturally Cary is flattered.
“It’s an acknowledgement, really – me acknowledging them!” he said. “These are my heroes, people that influenced me, so to be compared to them is an oversight in what is really going on. The mention of those names directly correlates with my sounds, relates directly to my approach to the music. I don’t compare myself to them; I have learned from them.”
Cary, who says he’s grateful for the opportunity to play in D.C., loves the intimacy of the Bohemian Caverns where he always feels the love.
“It’s a room with a history,” he said “It’s a basement where you are intimate with the audience; you feel like you’re in a cave. There’s no other place like it!”
