CMA is thrilled to welcome back to Des Moines, Hannah Marks — a bassist, bandleader, composer, and educator living in New York City — for her upcoming performance at 5:00 PM Friday, June 30 at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown. Her return is extra special to CMA, as she was once an intern with the organization.
Hannah Marks, Bandleader
As a bandleader, Marks has performed at several major festivals, including the Detroit Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, 80-35 Music Festival, Iowa City Jazz Festival, and Indy Jazz Festival. She currently leads two groups, including, Hannah Marks: Outsider, Outlier, a genre-defying, lyric-based project, and the Hannah Marks Quartet. She has worked with jazz luminaries like Geoffrey Keezer, Nasheet Waits, Terri Lyne Carrington, Miles Okazaki, Ingrid Jensen, Kalia Vandever, Matt Wilson, Ted Nash, Morgan Guerin, and Marcus Printup, and has performed at heralded NYC venues like Birdland Jazz Club, The 55 Bar, The Stone, and The Jazz Gallery. Her former project, Heartland Trio, released their debut album in November 2018.
Marks is an alum of the Stanford Jazz Workshop Mentor Fellow program (2022), the Woodshed Network (2021), Betty Carter Jazz Ahead (2019), the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music (2018), and the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony (2014). She is on faculty at The Spence School and runs her own private lesson studio.
Hannah Marks isn’t new to CMA
Hannah Marks is not a new face at CMA. Not only was she a CMA intern for several years, she also participated in various CMA studio events. Even then, her talent was apparent: During one event, the great Ellis Marsalis and his son Delfeayo, who were in town for a performance, worked with Ms. Marks as part of a masterclass. When the masterclass concluded, Ellis noted “the girl on the bass is going places.” The rest is history.
Please join us in welcoming Hannah back to Des Moines and congratulate her for such a successful career.
Ladies and gentlemen, the toast of New York, Hannah Marks!
