About

Hannah Marks is a bassist, composer, and educator living in New York City. She has performed at festivals like the Detroit Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, 80-35 Music Festival, Iowa City Jazz Festival and Indy Jazz Festival, and currently leads a risk-taking acoustic jazz quartet that features NYC’s most in-demand sidemen.

Marks’ debut album, Outsider, Outlier, is an explosive rendering of her search for belonging and empowerment. A nod to her love for punk, noise and free improvisation, Outsider, Outlier released on Out Of Your Head Records on October 20, 2023. 

As a side-woman, Marks has been described as having “a fresh, modern, and original approach to playing the bass” by Marcus Printup. Marks has played bass for Dee Dee Bridgewater, Geoffrey Keezer, Nasheet Waits, Terri Lyne Carrington, Anna Webber, Miles Okazaki, Ingrid Jensen, Kalia Vandever, Matt Wilson, Ted Nash, Morgan Guerin, Marcus Printup, and Sasha Berliner. Marks’ discography includes playing on Geoffrey Keezer’s Grammy award winning composition “Refuge”, Kristen Lee Sergeant’s Falling with saxophonist Ted Nash, and Heartland Trio’s debut album Year One.

Marks is passionate about jazz education, serving on faculty at Jazz House Kids and the Borough of Manhattan Community College during the academic year, and at Interlochen Arts Camp and the Stanford Jazz Workshop during the summer. She has also presented masterclasses at universities across the country (Brown University, Indiana University, and University of Denver) and adjudicated at the Reno Jazz Festival. 

“One to watch.” NEA Jazz Master and vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater

“In her short time in New York, it's already obvious that she {Marks} is laying the foundation for a long and successful career in music." Saxophonist Walter Smith III