Marlowe Shepherd in New York
It’s such a humbling and thrilling opportunity to be back and grinding away in New York City. The chance to be back on the ground here is as real as it gets. I arrived here with no expectations of results or the conception that the city would respond to my efforts. I just promised myself I would really hustle, give it my all and that, in the end, would allow me to sleep at night. Here I am halfway to everywhere and digging in.
It’s ten miles plus on foot per day in the suit sweating out the oldies. Pitching for solo and ensemble work in person to upwards of 150 hotel and restaurant locations plus the records shops, galleries, and any other space I can find. It’s the jazz clubs, the private member clubs, and the fashion houses. It’s uptown, downtown, and everywhere in between. It’s tracking all these in person interactions with the repetition of follow up emails and phone calls. It’s the sweet surprise and the joy of just being a part of it all.
I’m giving it away. That is the reason, at the core, why I started out in the first place. When I’m practicing in my favorite spots in Central Park it’s right out of ‘real good for free’. That’s the point really, in the end you have to just let it go and find it’s own way around. It might come back to you and it might not. The angle is really just live from a point of view of love, and through the filter of love. It’s pretty simple.
I brought over 400 vinyl units of my two current efforts along with 200 singles. I’ve been gifting them to all the locations I’m pitching to and would love to play as I make my way around the city. It’s the gesture of sharing what I do without expectations. I love these moments and by months end I will have had 600 lovely interactions with hard working people who are generally asked for something and not given anything. Again, it’s the gesture and I’m lucky to be able to share it around.
I enjoy all these Incredible properties new and old. I’m drawn to the history of it all. Who’s stayed here? Who had drinks here? Who walked down these streets dreaming? At the end of the day what inspires me is the people in the city. That’s the real city to me.
Smalls Jazz Club _ Club Wits End _ Winnie’s Jazz Bar _ The Django _ Casa Tua _ Maxime’s Club _ Fasano _ Casa Cruz _ Aman _ ZZ’s _ University Club _ The Harvard Club _ Tomi _ Viilage Vanguard _ The Twenty Two _ The Ned _ Chez Margaux _ San Vicente _ The Collection _ The Refinery _ The Waldorf Astoria _ The W _ The Fitzpatrick _ The Dominick _ The Whitby _ Ace Hotel _ The Algonquin _ Four Seasons _ Dream Hotel _ The Mark _ The Pierre _ Lowes Regency _ The Luxury Collection _ Aura _ The Warwick _ Le Meridien _ The Langham _ The Thompson _ 1 Hotel _ The Ritz _ The St. Regis _ Mandarin Oriental _ Equinox _ The Manner _ Park Lane _ Park Central _ fast Times Coffee _ The Standard _ The Lowell _ The Plaza _ The Roxy _ The Fifth Avenue Hotel _ The Mercer _ Hotel Chelsea _ The Bowery Hotel _ The Peninsula _ The Carlyle _ JW Essex _ The Chatwal _ Nine Orchard _ Citizen M _ The Manhattan _ Perry Street _ Fleming _ RPM Underground _ Ergot Records _ Oceana _ Match 65 _ Tuscany Steakhouse _ JoJo _ Four Twenty Five _ Jean-Georges _ Gramercy Tavern _ Midnight Blue _ Daniel _ Rocco _ The Empire Hotel
I certainly take pride in what I’ve accomplished. The 3000 nights I’ve played in the last 10 years, the beautiful collaborations in scaling charts to big swing orchestras, co-producing a full symphony, and the albums I’ve recorded with the amazing musicians, producers, engineers, and everyone in between that allowed all of it to happen. I don’t believe it’s a healthy mindset to feel that all of it should add up to anything specific or that accomplishments are cumulative.
It’s always what’s next. See you around town.
Marlowe Shepherd partners with ARTLEX Entertainment in New York City!
I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve partnered with ARTLEX Entertainment for booking in New York City. ARTLEX Entertainment offers some of the highest quality entertainment in the city and I’m excited to be on their roster. This will allow my solo, trio, big swing orchestra, and my full symphony orchestra shows the opportunity to book in the city. I hope you’ll check out what ARTLEX is working on and keep an eye out. Onward and Upwards!
Buy Independent Music
Yes, My music is available for streaming across all major platforms and these are fantastic for the listener. As an independent jazz leaning recording artist, the only way I can sustain my career is buy selling vinyl releases and digital downloads directly from my official website. I urge you to have a listen and purchase the work here. There is a mountain of data out there supporting this point of view. Tracy Chapman was recently quoted in saying, “I only buy music in physical form. Artists get paid when you actually buy the vinyl. That’s important to me. So to some extent, it limits what I listen to, because it’s a physical commitment of going out into the world and finding things”. There is a deeper connection to the music and the artists that produce it when you know you’ve paid them directly without some huge corporation profiting from it.
Lies and Leisure
I wanted to write briefly in regards to a couple recent releases of my original compositions. Producing and releasing music these days digitally seems crazy when one thinks about the economy of it all. Returning on investment is almost impossible for an independent jazz musician like myself. I make the lions share of my income from performing live and from the sale of the vinyl versions of my releases.
‘Leisure’ is a full length album released in 2024 both digitally and on vinyl. It’s available to stream across all platforms and the links are all provided here:
https://marloweshepherd.hearnow.com/leisure
‘Lies and Leisure’ is a single I released in February 2025 and features Carlos Pino and Abraham Becker. Again, it’s available to stream across all platforms and the links are all provided here:
https://themarloweshepherdtrio.hearnow.com/lies-and-leisure
If you enjoy the tunes I urge you to purchase the digital and or vinyl versions of ‘Leisure’ and the digital version of ‘Lies and Leisure’ from the store here on my official website.
The Hoagy Carmichael Session
Hoagy Carmichael wrote some of the greatest tunes in the what some call The Great American Songbook. His compositions include Stardust, Skylark, Georgia On My Mind, The Nearness Of You, Heart and Soul, and many other lesser known gems.
I was very lucky to record ten of these charts with Simon Mulligan and Gene Perla on 22 November 2024 celebrating Hoagy’s 125th Birthday. We recorded live in studio in Perth Amboy, NJ with Nicholas de la Motte expertly capturing the performances. The result is a beautiful selection of ballads in the jazz trio format of piano, double bass, and vocal.
Simon Mulligan is certainly one of the greatest living pianists and his accomplishments over the years are vast. Gene Perla is a titan in jazz and has recorded and or performed with a who’s who in the genre including Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, and Frank Sinatra among many others over the years. It was incredible to sit in with these masters of their craft.
The album is available across all streaming platforms and you can find all the links here:
https://marloweshepherd.hearnow.com/the-hoagy-carmichael-session
I urge you to purchase the digital version of the album here on my official site and once the vinyl version is available please purchase a limited edition copy as the recordings on vinyl sound amazing.