Hugh Marsh (born June 5, 1955) is a violinist from

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, known for his

electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...

sound. Marsh was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award in the best contemporary jazz album category.

Early days

Marsh was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

and brought up in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, where he learned to play the violin from the age of five but it was when he tried playing the saxophone while at Canterbury high school that led to him exploring

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

. With his father's encouragement, he transferred these improvisation skills to the electric violin. He is the brother of musician Fergus Marsh.

Career

In 1978, Marsh was invited by jazz musician

Moe Koffman Morris "Moe" Koffman, OC (28 December 1928 – 28 March 2001) was a Canadian jazz saxophonist and flautist, as well as composer and arranger. During a career spanning from the 1950s into the 2000s, Koffman was one of Canada's most prolific musici ...

to perform with him in a concert series at the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...

in Toronto. This led to gigs at top Toronto jazz club George's Spaghetti House and to performances with Canadian jazz musicians Marsh had long admired such as

Doug Riley Douglas Brian Riley, CM (April 12, 1945 – August 27, 2007) was a Canadian musician, also known as Dr. Music. He spent two decades with the Famous People Players as its musical director, besides his participation on over 300 album projec ...

, Claude Ranger,

Sonny Greenwich Sonny Greenwich, (born January 1, 1936) is a Canadian guitarist. He has played in major Canadian and American cities including a concert at Carnegie Hall. He has performed with musicians such as Charles Lloyd, Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, Mc ...

and Don Thompson. After meeting

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirit ...

in 1979, Cockburn invited Marsh to join his band for recordings and tours. In 1984, Marsh recorded his independent album ''The Bear Walks'' which was later distributed by

Duke Street Records Duke Street Records was a Canadian independent record label"Barren ground for Canada's gutsy record labels". ''Edmonton Journal'', May 10, 1990. established in 1984 by Andrew Hermant, but the record label ceased operating in 1994. The Universal M ...

. He was supported on the album by Doug Riley (keyboards), Peter Cardinali (bass, production), and

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in ...

(tenor sax). The album sold well and was distributed by Verabra Records in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 1986. Marsh recorded a follow-up album in 1987. ''Shaking The Pumpkin'' featured

(on "How the Violin Was Born"),

Dalbello Lisa Concetta Dal Bello (born 22 May 1959), also known as Dalbello, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She released three albums in the pop and pop/rock genre in her late teens, from 1977 through 1981 under her full name. In 1984, she re-e ...

(on "Rules Are Made to be Broken") and singer

Robert Palmer Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful and soulful voice, sartorial elegance and stylistic explorations, combining soul, funk, jazz, rock, pop, regga ...

on a version of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

's "

Purple Haze "Purple Haze" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and released as the second single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on March 17, 1967, in the United Kingdom. The song features his inventive guitar playing, which uses the signature Hendrix chord a ...

". Marsh's collaboration with Robert Palmer on "Purple Haze" became a radio hit in Canada and the United States. Since 1990 Marsh has recorded and toured with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

singer

Loreena McKennitt Loreena McKennitt (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic music, Celtic and Middle Eastern music, Middle Eastern influences. McKenni ...

, contributing to six multi-platinum albums and a number of world tours. From 1998, he began working with Turkish Sufi DJ

Mercan Dede Mercan Dede (born Arkın Ilıcalı, 1966), also known as DJ Arkin Allen, is a Turkish-Canadian composer, ney and bendir player, DJ, and producer. He is a world music artist, playing a fusion of traditional acoustic Turkish and other oriental ...

, resulting in contributions to three albums and other touring projects. Marsh has also worked with Turkish artists Ihsan Ozgen, Kani Karaca, Goksel Baktagir and Ozcan Deniz. In 1992, Marsh, along with

Jonathan Goldsmith Jonathan Goldsmith (born September 26, 1938) is an American character actor. He began his career on the New York stage, then started a career in film and television. He appeared in several TV shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is best known ...

, Martin Tielli and Rob Piltch, provided backup for a track on the album

Back to the Garden ''Back to the Garden'' is a tribute album to Joni Mitchell, released in 1992. It was released on Intrepid Records, after the Canadian chart success of their 1991 Bruce Cockburn tribute, ''Kick at the Darkness''. The album's first single was Slo ...

; these four later formed the band Nick Buzz and produced two albums and an EP.. Vue Weekly, July 23, 2009 In 2000 Marsh performed with former

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

singer Peter Murphy on his international ''Just For Love'' tour. The album ''Alive Just for Love'' was a live recording of a set from the tour's El Rey show in Los Angeles. This was followed by the studio album ''

Dust Dust is made of particle size, fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian processes, aeolian process), Types of volcan ...

'' and a subsequent North American tour. Marsh collaborated on film scoring projects with composers

Harry Gregson Williams Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer. He has composed music for video games, television and films including the ''Metal Gear'' series, ''Spy Game'', ''Phone Booth'', ' ...

and Don Rooke, with compositions featured on such films as ''Armageddon'', ''Whatever Happened to Harold Smith'', ''Spy Game'', ''Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas'', ''The Rundown'', ''Veronica Guerin'', ''Man on Fire'', ''Shrek 2'', ''Return to Sender'', ''Domino'', ''Kingdom of Heaven'', ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', ''

Still Mine ''Still Mine'' is a 2012 Canadian romantic drama film. The film had a limited release under its original title ''Still'' at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival;Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

on scores for ''Tears of the Sun'' and ''The Da Vinci Code''. In 2004 Marsh joined clarinetist

Don Byron Donald Byron (born November 8, 1958) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet but has also played bass clarinet and saxophone in a variety of genres that includes free jazz and klezmer. Biography His moth ...

's new quartet "Swiftboat", along with

Kermit Driscoll James "Kermit" DriscollSmith, Steve"Driscoll, Kermit".''Grove Music Online''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 10 December 2022. (born March 4, 1956) is an American jazz bassist. He is known for his long association with guitarist Bill Frisell i ...

on bass and Pheeroan Aklaff on drums. Marsh toured as part of trumpeter

Jon Hassell Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937 – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various w ...

's new quartet with bassist Peter Freeman and percussionist

Steve Shehan Steve Shehan (born 18 January 1957 in Fort Eustis, Virginia) is a French-American percussionist and music composer. Life Steve Shehan was born in the United States of an American (Cherokee) father and a French mother. His percussion work has bee ...

. Marsh is a four-time winner of the Jazz Report Award for violinist of the year and a three-time recipient of the National Jazz Award for violinist of the year. Marsh's recording ''Hugmars'' was released in November 2006 and was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award in the best contemporary jazz album category. Marsh also performs with the Toronto-based band 'Three Metre Day' featuring Michelle Willis on pump organ and vocals, Hugh on violin and Don Rooke on slide guitar. Since September 2015, Marsh regularly performs with the

Rheostatics Rheostatics are a Canadian indie rock band. They were formed in 1978, and actively performed from 1980 until disbanding in 2007. After a number of reunion performances at special events, Rheostatics reformed in late 2016, introducing new songs a ...

Discography

Singles

*1984 "Versace"/"Znefu For Y'all" (Duke Street/WEA) *1987 "Purple Haze" (Duke Street/WEA), with Robert Palmer *1989 "Purple Haze" re-issue (Soundwings – US), with Robert Palmer

Albums

*1984 ''The Bear Walks'' (Duke Street/WEA) *1987 ''Shaking The Pumpkin'' (Duke Street/WEA) *1988 ''Shaking The Pumpkin'' (Soundwings/Duke Street – US) re-issue *1996 ''Songs for my Mother and Father'' (Cool Papa) *2006 ''Hugmars'' (nominated for 2007 Juno Award, Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year) *2019 ''Violinvocations'' (Bandcamp)

Compilations/Other

* 1996 cut on ''Sweet Relief II'' compilation * 1997 cut on ''Carols of Christmas, Vol. 2'' compilation

Contributions

*with Peter Murphy – "Alive Just for Love", "Dust" *with

– "Humans", "Inner City Front", "Mummy Dust", "The Trouble With Normal", "World of Wonders", "Big Circumstance", "Waiting for a Miracle", "Christmas", "You've Never Seen Everything". *with Don Ross – "Bearing Straight". *with

– "The Visit", "The Book of Secrets", "A Winter Garden", "The Mask and Mirror", "Live in Paris and Toronto", "An Ancient Muse", "Nights from the Alhambra", "The Wind That Shakes the Barley", "A Mediterranean Odyssey". *with

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is a Canadian Rock music, rock band which was formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming th ...

– "Born on a Pirate Ship" *with Brian Hughes – "Straight to You" *with

Alannah Myles Alannah Myles (née Byles; born December 25, 1958) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who has won both a Grammy and a Juno Award for the song " Black Velvet". The song was a top-ten hit in Canada and a number one hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot ...

– "Arrival", "Alannah" *with Steve Bell *with

Mary Margaret O'Hara Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and composer. She is best known for the album ''Miss America'', released in 1988. She released two albums and an EP under her own name, and remains active as a live performer, as a con ...

– "Miss America, "Christmas EP" *with

Raffi Raffi Cavoukian (, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is an Armenian-Canadian singer-lyricist and author born in Egypt best known for his children's music. In 1992, ''The Washington Post'' called him "the most p ...

– "Evergreen, Everblue" *with

Brooks Williams Brooks Williams (born November 10, 1958) is an American acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter. His style combines roots, jazz, blues, classical, and folk. He has released albums of contemporary folk music, blues music, and of instrumental ...

– "Knife Edge", "Seven Sisters" *with Roberto Occhipinti – "Trinacria", "The Cusp" *with

The Henrys The Henrys is a Toronto-based, "nearly instrumental" quartet. Their music features the sound of an antique slide guitar called a kona (and other slide guitars), along with various other instruments, including pump organ, conch shell, guitars, voc ...

– "Joyous Porous", "Puerto Angel" *with

– "Seyhatname", "Nar", "Su", "Nefes". *with

Nick Buzz Nick Buzz is a Canadian band composed of pianist Jon Goldsmith, violinist Hugh Marsh, guitarist Rob Piltch, and singer/songwriter Martin Tielli. History Goldsmith, Marsh, Piltch and Tielli came together in 1992 to collaborate on a cover of Joni ...

– "Circo" *with Montuno Police – "Touch", "The Call", "Nomads" *with The MRC Trio – "Tribal Dance", "That Magic Thread" *with Random Access – "Random Access 3, "No Soap Radio", "Accidental Beef". *with

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

– "Tears of the Sun", "The Da Vinci Code" *with

– "Armageddon", "Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?", "Spy Game", "Veronica Guerin", "The Rundown", "Shrek 2", "Return to Sender", "Kingdom of Heaven", "Man on Fire", "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Seraphim Falls", "Deja Vu", "The Number 23" and "The Taking of Pelham 123", "The Town", "Unstoppable", " Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time". *with

The Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

- "Ready to Die" *with Sora - "Heartwood"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Hugh 1955 births Anglophone Quebec people Canadian classical violinists Male classical violinists Canadian jazz violinists Canadian rock violinists Living people Musicians from Montreal Musicians from Toronto Electric violinists 20th-century Canadian classical violinists 21st-century classical violinists 20th-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian male musicians Canadian male jazz musicians Canadian male violinists and fiddlers 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers 21st-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers