About this Event
Marel Hidalgo is a seventeen-year-old guitarist, banjoist, arranger, and bandleader from New Jersey. He began playing guitar at the age of four and debuted in public with a solo show just a few months later. By age six he had formed his first band, performing a variety of musical genres from blues to funk and country locally and nationally – including Harry Connick Jr.’s show on national television!
After eight years of leading his bands in said genres, and inspired by the music of legendary jazz guitarist Joe Pass, Marel began performing solo jazz guitar concerts. Shortly thereafter he led his first straight-ahead jazz trio. His playing quickly caught the attention of the local jazz scene and in the last year alone, Marel has been highly active playing in jazz clubs, venues, and festivals on the East Coast and in the Midwest, as well as France and Costa Rica, primarily leading his Jamaican/Caribbean jazz quartet, in which he blends reggae, calypso, soca, dub,rocksteady, and mento with jazz, or leading organ trios in the straight-ahead tradition.
He has performed at the Exit Zero Jazz Festival, the New York Guitar Festival in Bryant Park, the Ellnora Guitar Festival at the Krannert Center For The Arts, the Chicken Bone Beach Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Deer Head Inn Jazz Club, the Sunside Jazz Club in Paris, Count Basie’s Vogel Theater, el Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, Costa Rica's El Sótano Jazz Club, and Amón Solar.
He has worked with many jazz legends including:
- Drummers: Billy Hart, Roger Humphries, Winard Harper, Tommy Campbell, G. Earl Grice, Carlomagno Araya
- Bassists: John Lee, Dwayne Dolphin, Gary Mazzaroppi, organists: Pat Bianchi, Radam Schwartz, Leonieke Scheuble
- Saxophonists: Tony Campbell, Don Aliquo Sr., Antoine Roney, Julius Tolentino
- and many more.
This event is FREE, but seats are limited!
This event is a collaboration between Friends of Metuchen Arts/Metuchen Jazz and the Metuchen Public Library which is providing the space.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Metuchen Borough Public Library, 480 Middlesex Avenue, Metuchen, United States
USD 0.00
