Marcus Rojas, Matt Munisteri, and Will Holshouser
Three of New York’s most in-demand virtuoso musicians, each with a distinctive voice on his instrument, explore and expand on Parisian musette. They bring this multicultural dancehall music to new places through the highest improvisational communication, emotionally honest performances, and original compositions. Marcus, Matt and Will keep busy backing up some of the world’s foremost artists (Regina Carter, David Byrne, Paul Simon, Henry Threadgill, Mark O’Connor, David Krakauer, Catherine Russell and others). Over the last fifteen years, they’ve indulged in a labor of love: exploring the beautiful and challenging French musette repertoire.
"Phenomenal tubist Marcus Rojas" (Whitney Balliet, The New Yorker) is a native of New York City. Considered one of "the best all around tuba players in the world" (Harvey Pekar,Jazziz); among the diverse groups in which he has played are the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, American Symphony, American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York Pops, EOS, Radio City Music Hall, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis, ensembles led by Gil Evans, George Russell,Jim Hall, Lionel Hampton, Dave Douglas, Wayne Shorter, David Byrne, and P.D.Q. Bach. He has also appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Today Show, Saturday Night Live and The Grammys from New York City.
Marcus has played on over three hundred and fifty recordings, from CDs of his own groups (Spanish Fly and Les Miserables Brass Band) to Reggae stars Sly and Robbie and the Metropolitan Opera. He has performed and/or recorded with such diverse artists as Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Dawn Upshaw, Queen Latifah, Donnie Osmond, Sting, Dr. John, Harry Connick Jr., Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, They Might be Giants, Arto Linsday and Rosie O'Donell among others. He has recorded for every major film, television and record company in the United States as well as countless commercial jingles and over 60 film scores including Wolf, Interview with the Vampire, Mission to Mars, Muppet Christmas Carol, Ed Wood, You've Got Mail, The Spanish Prisoner, Fargo, Snake Eyes, Primary Colors,101 Dalmations, Shaft, S.W.A.T., American Splendor, Everything is Illuminated, Sleepless in Seattle, Sin Nombre and Across the Universe. He can be heard daily on Nick Jr's. Oswald and the Backyardigans.
Collaborations: Marcus is an avid proponent of contemporary classical, improvised and chamber musics. He performs solo and as a soloist with orchestras and ensembles throughout the world. As a founding member of SingleTree, a trio of flute, tuba and marimba,Brass Bang, Spanish Fly with Steven Bernstein and David Tronzo and other groups he has written and commissioned many new works. He was a member of Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus and is currently a member of Dave Douglas' Brass Ecstasy and Nomad, Michael Blake's Hellbent and Musette Explosion. He has performed the premieres of composers LaMonte Young, Peter Zummo, Gunther Schuller, Ralph Shapey, Philip Johnston, Anne LeBaron, Tom McKinley, Daniel Pinkham, Benedict Mason, Peter Schickele and John Zorn. New music groups he performs with include Contuum, the SEM Ensemble, ICE, American Composers Orchestra and the Kamakazi Ground Crew. He has performed in every jazz and major concert venue in NY and almost every jazz festival in the US, Canada and Europe with many artists including Donny McCaslin, Tony Malaby, Wadada Leo Smith, Doug Weiselman, Peter Apfelbaum and others. He toured the US, Japan and Australia with Robert Wilson's the Knee Plays.
It’s a daunting task, this business of encapsulating Matt Munisteri’s musical self. As the sparkling guitarist on several chart-topping jazz CDs; a critically lauded songwriter and nimble lyricist; an urban banjo-warrior and a sometime session musician; a selfless and devoted sideman; a wry-yet-honest singer; an engaging and winning front-man; and an arranger whose ear-pulling re-inventions of well-traveled songs have contributed to Grammy winning CDs for artists such as Loudon Wainwright and Catherine Russell, Matt’s various dueling career paths might at first seem difficult to reconcile. Additionally you’d be hard-pressed to find another Brooklyn native who grew up playing bluegrass banjo since he was in the single digits; who has recorded with artists as divergent as consummate jazz balladeer “Little” Jimmy Scott and 1980’s avante-noise godfather Glenn Branca (really Matt?!); who is regarded as a contemporary master of 1920’s and ’30’s jazz styles, and is an ardent student of American folk traditions, but counts among his regular creative cohorts several musicians associated with the New York Downtown music world. Yet ultimately Matt’s journey through 20th century American music yields a vision which feels intrinsically whole, with his own music always presenting as a unified and one-of-a-kind reflection of a life immersed in all the far-flung variants of American Popular Song. It might be easier then to say that whatever he’s currently up to, it will be a living reconciliation of rural and urban, long-gone and contemporary, individual experience and canonized scripture. Plus he’s always guaranteed to swing like mad while busy concocting said reconciliation’.