Tony Marcus

the definition of mellifluous

"great technique, great taste, great tunes, beautiful sound."   ~ Ranger Doug Green, Riders in the Sky

 

Tony has long been a presence on the San Francisco Bay Area acoustic music scene. From a start playing traditional folk music (in his first band, both Laurie Lewis and Kate Brislin were his bandmates for a time) to the jazzier sounds of more recent years (Leftover Dreams, Cats & Jammers, etc.) Tony has played guitar, violin and other stringed instruments as well as vocalizing. He is often called on to do clinics and workshops in swing guitar and vocal harmonizing and arranging. These have included the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, International Guitar Seminars, California Coast Music Camp, Augusta Heritage Workshops and more. He has also had lessons and articles published in Acoustic Guitar magazine. 

Tony has been a member of the Cheap Suit Serenaders since 1979, and toured Europe with them twice. He has performed theatre music on stage at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Jose Rep, Denver Center Theatre, Barter Theatre, Virginia Stage Co., Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and many others. 

Other performers with whom he has performed or recorded include Geoff Muldaur, Kate Wolf, The Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, The Swing Session, Frank Wakefield, The Sons of the San Joaquin, Sylvia Herold, Marley's Ghost, Rose Maddox, Patsy Montana, Lost Weekend Western Swing Band and many others. Through all this time his joy in playing music remains undiminished...a quality which is infectious to the audience as well.

These days he's often heard playing fiddle with Oakland band, Jill Rogers and Crying Time, soulful honky-tonk revisionists.

In addition to his albums with Leftover Dreams and Cats & Jammers, in 2009 Tony released Vanishing Point, an collection of originals. His discography includes three albums with Paul Anastasio, including Steel Swinging, which features pedal-steel legend Bobby Black.