Artist: Marcus Gilmore

Marcus Gilmore is an American jazz drummer. In 2009, New York Times critic Ben Ratliff included Gilmore in his list of drummers who are "finding new ways to look at the drum set, and at jazz itself", saying, "he created that pleasant citywide buzz when someone new and special blows through New York clubs and jam sessions". 

Marcus Gilmore is the grandson of Roy Haynes, who gave him his first drum kit at the age of ten, and the nephew of Graham Haynes. 

A graduate of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Marcus also received full-ride scholarships to the Juilliard School of Music and Manhattan School of Music. He has been touring professionally since the age of sixteen. 

Marcus has performed with some of today’s best-known contemporary jazz artists, including Chick Corea, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Nicholas Payton, Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, and Ambrose Akinmusire. He is also embarking on solo projects with his bands "Actions Speak" and "Silhouwav." 

He has been named a protégé of the 2018 Rolex Mentors And Protégé project. 

In August 2020, Gilmore contributed to the live-streamed recording of the singer Bilal's EP VOYAGE-19, created remotely during the COVID-19 lockdowns. It was released the following month with proceeds from its sales going to participating musicians in financial hardship from the lockdown. 

Marcus Gilmore is the recipient of several awards, including a Latin Grammy Award for his work with pianist and composer Chick Corea. 

Like his grandfather, Gilmore draws upon a wide variety of influences, from Tony Williams to free jazz drummer Milford Graves. When talking about Graves in Modern Drummer, he said "A lot of Milford’s playing deals with rhythm, but not in a very metric way—it’s non-metric, a lot of waves. It’s still melodic, even more so because it’s very linguistic. Milford doesn’t even really play snares. He keeps the snares off. His drumming sounds very melodic and very lyrical. It sounds like a language."He has specifically cited Elvin Jones on the album Speak No Evil and Tony Williams' Lifetime as influences.