Marcus Miller wants to make the world more beautiful through his work in music and mathematics.
He began studying saxophone at age nine and, with the help of world renown saxophonist Bruce Williams (Roy Hargrove, Juilliard, World Saxophone Quartet), developed a passion that put him on stage at 13. With gifts extending beyond music, he graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Mathematics. After a short stint at Bridgewater Associates, he moved to New York City to pursue music. He soon developed a reputation as a versatile and virtuosic player, while studying music production and engineering under Grammy-Winning Engineer “Bassy” Bob Brockman (Notorious B.I.G, Herbie Hancock, D'Angelo).
Marcus has performed at the Obama White House, Madison Square Garden, The World Economic Forum at Davos, The Montreux Jazz Festival, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert alongside Jon Batiste, and Carnegie Hall. In addition, he has worked with jazz giants ELEW and Jazzmeia Horn, as well as major artists like The Fugees and Madonna. He is a regular at Daybreaker, touring with them on Oprah’s 2020 vision tour. In 2015 he was noted as an Artist of Distinction by the state of New Jersey. In 2019 he served as musical director for the award nominated Playing Hot, a play about Buddy Bolden, the Father of Jazz. He performed flute on Jon Batiste’s Grammy Winning Album, We Are.
Marcus has also continued his work in mathematics and physics by giving talks and performances that combine Math and Music. He has been featured at the Grace Farms Foundation, Falling Walls 2020 Conference, TEDSummit 2019, TEDxOttawa 2019, University of Georgia, University of Michigan, and venues in Istanbul, Hong Kong. He has also held a 2 year residency at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York City, and was invited to be the inaugural artist in residence with the Brown University Physics Department. He encourages people to engage with our world heritages of mathematics and music as pathways to a more meaningful life and society.
In 2023, Marcus will continue to serve as Musical Advisor to the Grace Farms Foundation where he curates major artists for music and discussion, gives performances on the relationship between beauty and logic, and helps to investigate the intersection of music and architecture in a way that informs the Foundations mission on sustainability in the environment and supply chain.
Marcus believes that the kind of beauty accessible through mathematics, music, and other human acts of creativity draws out the best in us, making us, as individuals and as a human race, more courageous, focused, kind, generative, imaginative, humble, and wise.
Marcus Endorses Theo Wanne Mouthpieces and Silverstein Ligatures
Photographs featuring Leo Sorel and Walter Wlodarczyk
“May not music be described as the mathematics of the sense, mathematics as music of the reason?”