​Ralph Waldo Ellison once remarked, “For the jazz is an art of individual assertion within and against the group. Each true jazz moment…springs from a contest in which the artist challenges all the rest; each solo flight, or improvisation, represents (like the canvasses of a painter) a definition of his [sic] identity: as individual, as member of the collectivity and as a link in the chain of tradition. Thus because jazz finds its very life in improvisation upon traditional materials, the jazz man must lose his identity even as he finds it.” Jazz artist Marc Cary is one of the premier pianists of his generation with the talent, ability, and range to play the full gambit.

​Often going unnoticed, his work with artists over the years reads like a who’s who of jazz music : Abbey Lincoln, Roy Hargrove, Stefan Harris just to name a few. On his work entitled, “Focus”, the jazz man does just that..focus. In a trio formation with David Ewell on bass, Sameer Gupta on drums, and of course Cary on keys, the album is an exercise in restraint for all three primarily for the latter. Leaving in their wake a satisfying amalgamation of classical references and unfettered improvisation. The standout track “Taiwa” composed by Gupta is a ballad that is equally as poignant as it is moving.  

- J After Dark