Sound of Jazz

Leroy Marshall is a vital example of Monroe’s ability to foster upcoming
musicians through school music programs and community support of local talent.

Article by Vanelis Rivera and photography courtesy of Leroy Marshall

THE SAXOPHONE is one of the most iconic instruments in jazz, a music style dubbed America’s only original art form and credited with giving birth to a plethora of other music styles. So, if you’re a saxophonist, your dream is probably to play in the jazz capital of the world, the birthplace of jazz—New Orleans! Since the conception of jazz, musicians have brought the narrow streets of New Orleans to life with the gruff, improvisational tones of one of America’s greatest exports to the world, drawing musicians from near and far. Such is the story of Monroe’s own, Leroy Marshall. Though his musical beginning was dubious and impulsive, his maturation in the art conveys a rigorous dedication to playfulness and mastery.

The only reason Marshall joined the JS Clark Elementary music program was to get out of class. When he started at the school, there was no formal music class, so they would take students out of class for band practice. Unlike most young black children from New Orleans, Marshall wasn’t born into a family of musicians. He didn’t have anyone to “fall back on,” he says, or have any uncles or brothers who played: “I didn’t know anything about instruments.” At the time, music wasn’t embedded into the fabric of Monroe culture, not like in New Orleans where you see kids between the ages of four to five years old jamming incessantly on Bourbon Street. “I didn’t see anything like that in Monroe,” he says. When he joined the music program, his teacher asked students to listen to different sounds and write the ones they liked. He didn’t know that he was choosing his instrument, which ended up being the clarinet. It wasn’t long before Marshall began to get cold feet with what he deemed a “girly instrument.” He would hide and miss band practice so that his peers wouldn’t see him with it. “I started trying to get off playing it and get on the sax, but I was the best clarinet player,” he recalls with humor.

The switch in instruments was serendipitous. When he started marching band in high school, his bandleader, a sax player, couldn’t hear Marshall’s bass clarinet and intuitively put him on the sax. Even when he got his dream instrument, Marshall almost quit the band. “I found out that girls like football players more than band players,” he laughs. He ended up trying out for the football team, but his father encouraged him to stay in band, convincing him that it would be the skill that could land him a scholarship. He ended up as the head band master, even though he didn’t have a girlfriend, which he turned around his senior year. “It’s by the grace of God that I stayed in [band],” he says.

Marshall received a full scholarship to Grambling State University where he majored in engineering, flourishing because of the foundation he gained in the music programs he went through (Lee Junior High School, Carroll High School, and Neville High School). In addition to learning how to build music scales and writing techniques, one of the most significant lessons from his band directors was learning music by ear and how to be a unit, not just a single musician. “When they say that the band practices more than the football team and everybody else, that is definitely true,” asserts Marshall. He remembers waking up at 4:30 in the morning for the physical conditioning and precision drills necessary to adequately perform and dance during games. “It taught you life. How to conduct yourself and how to be responsible,” he says, comparing it to the military. He gained the position of Master Drill sergeant in his senior year at Grambling, further learning how to be a good leader by being a good follower. Marshall was deeply musically involved, partaking in every ensemble offered, and people thought he was a music major. His Grambling music experience was such a momentous part of his life that he stayed an extra year. Thanks to the program, his first plane ride was to New York City where he performed in Yankee Stadium. He also experienced performing in other parts of the world, like Japan.

Marshall has always played jazz, starting with instrumental, smooth jazz “stuff” in the jazz band at Grambling. As a post-grad, a friend of his talked him into starting a dance band called LC Smoove. “I was strictly a marching band guy, but I was interested in it,” he says, mostly because as a working engineer, he craved the musical part of himself. Becoming the frontman was kind of thrown at him. At a hotel gig in Monroe, someone requested a blues song. His brother, who also played with him, didn’t want to “sing no blues song,” so he tried it. From there, “it all just fell on my lap,” he explains.

LC Smoove made waves in Monroe until 2009, venturing as far as France and Canada. When he first traveled to New Orleans as a musician, he still worked in Monroe, so he would take the trip down every other weekend performing as LC Smoove at My Bar, a club on Bourbon Street. When the bar changed from live-band dance music to dueling pianos, he switched to Funky 544 for a short time, where he went by the LC Smoove Dance Band. Out of a regular gig for a year, he traveled to Japan and played New Orleans-style jazz with a band there. Noticing the enthusiastic reception, he “checked into” playing at the Maison Bourbon Jazz Club upon his return to New Orleans, landing a gig Thursday afternoons. That’s when The Leroy Marshall Band name started to be used, though he still plays at other clubs in New Orleans as LC Smoove, where he performs six days a week.

“One thing I wanted to do was reach the world,” says Marshall about playing in New Orleans. He believes he accomplished that there without having to travel. There have been times when the only Americans at Maison have been the workers. He has friends from different states and from all over the world that “hit him up” on Facebook to find out where his weekly gigs are. “The music support here is just awesome,” Marshall says. “I get calls now to play here and there. Musicians ask me to play with them and sub for them.” Marshall’s growing experience as a New Orleans-based musician allowed him to build his relationship with the saxophone. “I can talk through it. I just enjoy it because it can be melodic. I can do the lead with it. I’ve learned to be more expressive with it,” he says. Though he acknowledges that he still has room to grow, he can reach ranges the he never could before. To train himself, he started out listening to notables in the field like Grover Washington Jr and Kenny G, but a few months in, he realized that if he continued mimicking them he would end up sounding like them. “I want people, when they hear me, to say Oh, I knew that was Leroy Marshall playing.” So he learned to develop a unique danceable style, something that can make you “get down,” he says. “One thing I’ll tell you is that I get such a joy from seeing other people enjoy my performance. It’s so awesome to see the smiles and laughter.” One of the elements from the platform at Bourbon Street he takes pleasure in is interacting with the audience. He’s known for telling jokes and incorporating them in his music. “I just thank God to be a vessel, to be able to do that. Take people away from their daily problems. Take them to a place to relax and have fun.”

In many ways, that’s the “vibe and feel” of jazz. People relate to the stories. “It just never dies. It’s music that is everlasting,” says Marshall. He always uses the phrase “yes, indeedie” when trying to describe the sound of jazz, referring to how it makes him just “want to get up and move and do things I never thought I would do.” Nothing crazy, he says, just things you should have done a long time ago. That’s the prerogative of energizing and electric sound. Even Marshall’s modus operandi is jazz-like, intuitive and random. “A lot of people, you’ll see them on stage and see papers on stage. That would be their setlist. I tried that, and that doesn’t work for me. I never stick to it.” When he leads the band, he calls every song. People ask him what his next song will be and he’ll say that he doesn’t know. He’ll figure it out when he gets on stage. “I rely on a feeling. My band members just have to be prepared for everything because it can be literally anything,” he laughs. “I just do impromptu. Let the show flow as it goes.”

Leroy Marshall enjoys Nola-style music because “it speaks toward life” and “makes you want to run like lion, tigers, and bears.” Every time he wakes up it’s time to celebrate. To see people’s excitement from that realization is a “cool feeling,” says Marshall. Monroe may not be a place where musicians are raised, compared to the way they are in New Orleans, but Marshall is a vital example of Monroe’s ability to foster upcoming musicians through school music programs and community support of local talent once they reach the stages of bars, pubs, and event venues. “I’m so glad I decided to get out of class,” jokingly asserts Marshall, though he didn’t know what was in store for him. “I don’t plan too many things. I’ve just been letting God lead me from there.”

Give Leroy Marshall a follow on Facebook to keep tabs on all his New Orleans gigs at Maison Bourbon, Funky 544, and Balcony Music Club (BMC).