Julian & Friends

The Julián and Friends composers showcase, created to celebrate and serve as a platform for young composers-instrumentalists, is in its second year at the Jazz Showcase. Each monthly presentation seeks to expand the intergenerational conversation of Black American Music with experimental and forward thinking original programs.

.Marques Carroll

A bold performer, soulful composer and passionate educator, Trumpeter Marques Carrol is dedicated to preserving the authentic culture of Jazz and spreading his holistic love of music around the world. Marques Carroll has been drawing national attention since 1996, having worked and shared the stage with today’s most celebrated artists and ensembles including Carmen Bradford, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Etienne Charles, Christian McBride, Jon Faddis, Meshell Ndegeocello, Randy Weston, Jimmy Heath, Jeff Hamilton, Randy Brecker, Nicholas Payton, Tom Harrell, Bob Brookmeyer, Bobby Watson, the Count Basie Orchestra, The Temptations, Chicago Jazz Ensemble, The O’Jays, The Four Tops, May Wilson and Aretha Franklin.

Born into a musical family in St. Louis, Marques fell in love with the trumpet when he was only 8 years old. His grandfather worked with Jazz legend Clark Terry, who became an influence on Marques and his musical growth. Marques also developed a lifelong friendship with Wynton Marsalis who has become one of his greatest supporters. Absorbing the blues of Louis Armstrong and the laid back sounds of Miles Davis, while also studying the music of Haydyn, Hindemith, Bach and Beethoven, Marques boasts a versatile upbringing in the brass performance and pedagogical tradition. Marques studied at DePaul University where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Jazz Studies Performance.

A storyteller at heart, Marques uses his experience and mastery of multi-genre vocabulary to break down barriers between genres writing evocative music that speaks directly to the soul. Rooted in the tradition of Black American Music (BAM), Marques is consciously and decorously challenging norms of genres such as Blues, Funk, Soul, Neo-Soul, and Hip-Hop, expanding and pushing into new places of expression and mastery.

Julián Pujols Quall

A Dominican-American pianist and composer from Chicago, Julián´s journey started with the Caribbean rhythms of their childhood. A classically trained artist, their work found a home in jazz performance, improvisation, and collaboration.

Julián is a recent Jazz Performance graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where they studied with Warren Wolf as a recipient of the Merit School of Music's Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-Free Conservatory Blue Ribbon Scholarship. As a solo pianist they have studied at the Aspen Music Festival, Gijón Piano Festival, Brevard Music Festival and Colburn Piano Festival.

As a founding member of the Peabody Improvisers Collective Julián developed experimental collaborative programs and has been creating and performing improvisational music for ballet, modern and West-African dance programs in Baltimore and Chicago for the last three years. In addition to Julián and Friends, they formed Mamey, a music project that seeks to deepen the understanding of the influence the Caribbean arts have had in their musical creative journey and to honor beautiful Dominican traditions and cultural resilience, as they strive to promote new and vibrant art.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Jazz Showcase, 806 South Plymouth Ct, Chicago, United States