By Reba Ellsbe©
In the wide spectrum of Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Country and Rock, Marshall (Marsh) Brodeur’s voice is distinctive and genuine. He is as comfortable and authentic singing a 1940’s big band song ala Louis (Armstrong or Prima) as he is a raw unaffected 2011 indie rock style or a Bowie-esque eighties style in multiple octaves.
That unique diversity extends to his original composing and lyric writing as well. His lyric writing was described by veteran Hollywood producer Temma Keatan as “Wit and wisdom dancing with rhythm and wordplay.”
As a young teen Marsh played drums in garage bands and the high school jazz band and played Timpani in the school orchestra. He didn’t start taking singing seriously until he was a senior in high school. He went to All State, got the lead in the school rock musical “Your Own Thing” and started singing more rock and blues from behind the drums with the local rock and roll cellar dwellers.
Marsh joined the U.S. Air Force after high school and had a chance to live in England where he ironically discovered his love for playing American born Jazz. As a drummer the diverse rhythms appealed to him but as a singer it was the freedom of improvisation that captured his essence. When Marsh started listening actively to Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Mel Torme he heard scat singing for the first time. He always wished he could play an instrument as well as he could sing and now he was hearing someone use their voice AS an instrument. Not necessarily imitating any particular instrument but rather treating the voice and its own unique phonic ability as a legitimate instrument in its own right.
Not every good singer is necessarily a good improvisational singer. Marsh Brodeur, as fate would have it, is a great improvisational singer. In fact he may be one of a handful of singers alive today at the very peak of the scat singing apex. While in the Air Force Marsh started sitting in with local jazz trios and quartets and began attracting the attention of the jazz hungry Londoners as well as his military superiors. Eventually the music scene and the military scene came to a cross roads and being an active duty Sergeant in the U.S. Air Police took precedence until the end of his four year commitment.
If Marsh had followed Jazz’s Siren song exclusively it is hard to know where he might be today. But after four years of belonging to Uncle Sam, with honorable discharge and veterans benefits in hand he enjoyed the sweet lure of freedom and was soon fronting a very popular east coast regional rock and blues party band called Avatar. Eventually Avatar got the attention of A&R people which forced the players to make life choices they weren’t ready for, causing the demise of the band.
Discouraged and being bored with the club scene, Marsh went back and forth from the jazz side of the world to the rock side and as a result, rather than being known as a jazz singer or a rock singer or a blues singer Marsh was known by his peers as a guy who could cover anything. He was known by his peers, but not by the public.
“The biggest professional mistake that I made was not understanding branding” Marsh explains. “Back then it was about Art for Art sake which all sounds wonderful but doesn’t always pay the bills. Once you take your music outside of the “serious hobbyist” level to the “pro” level branding is critical. I had no clue. Rather than stick with one genre and becoming synonymous with that genre, building up a following and a reputation with other players in that genre, getting the attention of A&R people who live in that genre, I flitted from flower to flower, from blues to jazz to rock and back as my muses led me.”
Ironically that lack of specialization that might have held Marsh back professionally early on, now allows him to be a better writer and session singer for composers and instrumentalists placing music in the film and television market. Diversity in musical life experience means that Marsh has lived the Blues, lived rock and roll and lives jazz and that becomes obvious when you hear him sing in the various genres.
In addition to being an international award winning composer and film scorer with numerous gold, platinum and silver film festival awards to his credit, Marsh is also a three time Telly award winner, a vocalist consultant to HBO and a published author of “Timing Unmasked” an introduction to dramatic and comedic timing for actors. He conducts lectures and workshops in timing for actors and public speakers and is a guest lecturer and mentor at University of Nevada Reno’s Professional’s Television and Film Workshop Series.
