March 18--A few years ago, Marquis Hill was a promising young Chicago trumpeter leading his Blacktet in any jazz room he could find.
His accomplishments and potential were obvious, earning him a prime-time slot in Chicago's top spot for touring stars, the Jazz Showcase, at age 26.
On Thursday night Hill returned to that club, bringing with him a national reputation as a New York-based musician soon to make his major-label debut with Concord Music Group. At 28, he's putting the finishing touches on "The Way We Play," which will feature him leading his Blacktet in personalized versions of jazz standards.
The transformative event in Hill's rapidly ascending career occurred in November of 2014, when he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition. Yet anyone who wondered whether the acclaim Hill has been gathering might distract him from the seriousness of his mission needn't have worried, judging by his extensive opening set this time around.
If anything, Hill sounded more introspective in manner, rigorous in method and understated in presentation than ever. Building his performance entirely on original compositions, Hill offered music of considerable substance and complexity, as well as polish and poise.
At the center of his appeal was the character of his sound, which leans toward gauziness in ballads and somehow maintains a lyrical core even in up-tempo, bravura passages. On this occasion, Hill's tone proved especially tender and beautifully honed, suggesting Hill remains very much a young musician still shaping his art, rather than a rising star resting on his laurels.
This much was obvious from his opening selection, "Law and Order," drawn from Hill's first album, "New Gospel." Rather than try to bowl over his audience, Hill played an initial solo that disarmed the listener with its muted timbre, gently swooping phrases and fleet-and-airy passagework. This was music intended to win over the audience rather than conquer it.
No one has been closer to Hill musically than another former Chicagoan, Christopher McBride, whose fiery incantations on alto saxophone in "Law and Order" proved a fitting foil to the bandleader's gentler manner. Together, McBride and Hill formed a compelling front line back when they were based in Chicago, and their joint music-making only seems to have deepened in the ensuing years.
Hill upped the energy level considerably in his "Black Harvest," from his "Modern Flows, Vol. 1," its hard-charging, declamatory main theme a signature of the man's work as composer. For all the technical acuity of Hill's playing, however, he managed to convey a singing, poetic quality attributable, perhaps, to the lightness of his sound and his sensitivity to the underlying melodic arc of his solos. Once again, Hill and McBride played in tandem as if from a single horn, their long-lined statements pushed forward by drummer Greg Artry, bassist Joshua Ramos and vibraphonist Joel Ross.
The most affecting music of the night emerged in Hill's "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not," a romantic ballad from his "Sounds of the City" album. Played toward the end of the set, as the Blacktet had grown comfortable with the room and its particular acoustics, the piece inspired a hushed intensity from Hill and elegantly crafted figures from McBride. All the while, Ross provided a warm tonal cushion on vibraphone. Here, as elsewhere in the performance, Ross -- a former Chicagoan now studying in New York -- tended toward astringent chord structures, making matters that much more interesting.
Though Hill now finds himself perpetually touring the country, he keeps swinging back home to Chicago, with a high-profile appearance opening for singer Gregory Porter scheduled for June 10 in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center.
By then, Hill's Concord album debut will be two weeks from release, so listeners can expect to hear him unveiling that music in an august location -- an opportunity hard won and richly deserved.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.
hreich@tribpub.com
When: 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 4, 8 and 10 p.m. Sunday
Where: Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court
Tickets: $20-$35; 312-360-0234 or www.jazzshowcase.com
