Maria Marquez Downloads

Venezuelan chanteuse Maria Marquez shows that sensuality knows no boundaries in her forthcoming CD "Nature's Princess" (Princesa de la Naturaleza). This CD is Latin Jazz at its best with traditional and non-traditional instrumentation, fluid rhythms, and Marquez's soulful voice.Maria... Learn More »

Venezuelan chanteuse Maria Marquez shows that sensuality knows no boundaries in her forthcoming CD "Nature's Princess" (Princesa de la Naturaleza). This CD is Latin Jazz at its best with traditional and non-traditional instrumentation, fluid rhythms, and Marquez's soulful voice.

Maria takes her musical cues from the myriad native and international styles- bolero to jazz, Celia Cruz to Edith Piaf- of the Caribbean capital Caracas. Her professional career began during her late teens when she formed a duo with Venezuelan composer and Latin-rock-jazz fusionist Vytas Brenner, and the pair rose to rapid national acclaim before Maria left for the U.S. during her early 20's to study voice, composition, arranging and film scoring at Boston's Berklee College of Music.

After graduation, Maria trekked cross-country to train with world-renowned vocal coach Judy Davis in Oakland. Maria performed in a duo with jazz guitarist Joyce Cooling, the duo expanded with the participation of percussionist John Santos and keyboard player Jay Wagner, and the rest is, as they say, history. Maria would become an important figure in the Latin Jazz scene in the Bay Area for the next two decades.

In the mid 80's, Maria's recordings with Synclavier virtuoso Frank Harris, including the score to Venezuelan director Calogero Salvo's 1986 film "Three by three" garnered comparisons to the work of Brazilian songstress Astrud Gilberto. One of their arrangements for a traditional work song called "Canto de Pilon" was recorded by bassist Charlie Haden for his Grammy Award winner CD "Dream Keeper".

Maria returned to Caracas during the early 90's, and as musical programmer for jazz 95.5 FM, she assimilated the burgeoning international "world music" scene into the popular taste. In 1995, she recorded and co-produced her first solo album "De uno y otro lado" before returning to California and participating for the next 5 years in Latin/Middle Eastern fusion group Wild Mango.

She continued to develop her jazz repertoire with smaller ensembles, and in 2000 Maria Marquez completed work on her second solo record "Once Cuentos de Amor/ Eleven Love Stories" featuring 11 resurrected bolero torch song classics interpreted in Maria's inimitable jazz style.

The latest effort by Maria "Nature's Princess" (Princesa de la Naturaleza) has taken her 2 years to complete. Another self-produced record, an ambitious project which includes 30 musicians in a variety of settings, from the intimate sounds of a string quartet to large ensembles supported by a whole bateria of percussion all performed by friend and mentor John Santos.
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