For more than 30 years, Marqueal Jordan has carved out a distinctive place in the contemporary jazz landscape, seamlessly blending his roles as saxophonist, vocalist, and bandleader. The Los Angeles native, who was raised in Kansas City and has called Chicago home for three decades, has built an impressive catalog that includes three solo albums and multiple Billboard Top 20 smooth jazz singles.
Jordan’s musical journey began with childhood exposure to John Coltrane through his father’s record collection, eventually leading him to pick up the tenor saxophone in seventh grade. His path from aspiring musician to established artist included an 11-year touring stint with smooth jazz luminary Brian Culbertson, performances alongside legends like Larry Graham and Larry Dunn from Earth, Wind & Fire, and collaborations that have taken him from intimate Chicago venues to international stages in Japan.
Now preparing for a performance at Chicago’s All That Jazz Dinner Series at Mesler at The Sophy Hotel, Jordan reflects on his artistic evolution and his experience in Chicago. His story reveals the dedication required to sustain an authentic music career while navigating the complexities of genre expectations and industry changes.
What was it about John Coltrane that drew you in?
I mean, probably looking back on it now, I just wanted to be as cool as my dad. That was music my father listened to, so I wanted to be like pops.
But really, it had to be his sound. Now that I think about it he sounded like nobody else. And that emotion that just hits you right here, and it’s hard to really put it into words. You feel it more than I can explain it. But that sound was just, there was nothing like it. And it really was emotional.
It just tapped into all of those kinds of things. That was what I aspired to want to do. I didn’t know how I was going to get there. I didn’t know what it was going to take, but it was just that spirit that moved through him that touches everybody that really listens to John Coltrane. Whether you listen passively or really actively, there’s something about that sound.
Chicago has been your home for 30 years. How has the city influenced your evolution as an artist?
Chicago helped me grow up as a man. One thing I’ll say about Chicago is it’s gonna give you some hard knocks, but it gives it to you in a loving way. I think the Chicago way really is to nurture you. Beat you up a little bit, but we’re really gonna nurture you. We’re gonna love you through all of this stuff. And I think that’s why the emotion and the music and why what we do here is different from everywhere else. I think if I’d went to Los Angeles right out of college, which was really what my dream was, it would have been a different experience for me.
You’re known as a triple threat: saxophone artist, vocalist and band leader. Which came first and how did the others develop?
Saxophone came first. I always sang, but I never really took it seriously because I thought as a youngster I realized that I had perfect pitch in high school, and I realized I had a good ear maybe a couple of years before high school. I could sing along to the R&B songs of the day, when I was in junior high in LA, just impress the little girls and stuff. So but I never took it seriously, because I was thinking, oh, I don’t sound like Stevie Wonder for real, for real. I can mimic that. But I didn’t really think that I had a style, or I just didn’t take it seriously.
But moving to Chicago was the thing that really kicked me in the ass to do it, because Scott and I wanted to start a band. And the whole thing was we didn’t want to hire another person to be a lead singer, and I really didn’t want to have to deal with another ego in the band. And he was like, you sing better out of the two of us.
Then you got to do it. I was like, I just want to play saxophone. I want to do that. But I had to get over my fear of getting in front of people and singing, and just the reps that I got in, I realized I actually had a gift for it.
The singing came second, band leader thing came last, because I don’t think you can really lead until you gotta be a good sideman. You gotta be a good part of a band. You gotta know what your part is in the situation and play that role, and then you can see where you can fit in or where you can say, okay, we need to arrange the music this way, or let’s do this song, but let’s do that.
It took some years to get to a point where I felt comfortable leading a band, and really I learned by being in the band I keep referencing — the name of that band was Fat Time. So we played from ’95 to the early 2000s and so I was the front man. So really being the front man, I was leader in training. Scott was really the leader.
He wrote most of the music. He arranged everything. He made all the calls. He got all the gigs. He did all that kind of stuff. So I learned that part of the game by watching him and his approach to what he was doing.
And then I was learning how to be a front man and really front a band, and be a band leader on stage, and that stuff became real natural to me after a while. I just had to get over the fear of standing in front of a mic and singing in front of people. Then all of this, all the influences would come out.
I’m in the jazz, obviously. But when I’m in front of a mic, then I’m into James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Michael Jackson. Not that I can sing exactly like those guys. But the things that they had as leaders I watched, and the way that they work on stage, and how they would get down. That’s all a part of what I present on stage.
You’ve performed with some legendary acts and traveled the world performing. What have been some of your most memorable performance moments?
I toured a long time with a smooth jazz artist by the name of Brian Culbertson, and that situation is what got me out here as an artist. I toured with him for 11 years, but the second year I was in the band, I think my greatest touring experience, we spent a week in Japan. So we were in Tokyo and Osaka at the Billboard Live in both of those cities, and Culbertson is obviously huge here, but in Japan the only way that they would book him he had to bring some heavyweights with him.
I was out there with Larry Graham and Larry Dunn from Earth, Wind & Fire, keyboard player from Earth, Wind & Fire. And also a gentleman who was also in Brian’s band, but he spent a long time with Earth, Wind & Fire. He’s no longer with us unfortunately, his name is Sheldon Reynolds. So it was Brian Culbertson and the Funk All Stars.
And that was my first time in Japan, actually my only time in Japan. It was amazing! That was 2009, so that one sticks out just to be on stage with Larry Graham and he would go up, there was a couple of balconies, so he would go up to the second balcony and it’s in a U shape.
There’s a table that’s right here, but the wall is maybe about that high. You step off the other way, you are falling down. He would jump on that table, facing in the opposite direction playing bass and singing, fearless. He was 65, I think, at the time, and it was just wow, I’m on stage with somebody who changed music. So that hands down was my best experience, still is to this day.
You’ve had albums that landed on the Billboard charts. What does that kind of recognition mean to you?
It means everything, especially being in the genre with Brian Culbertson, and you get to meet everybody. So I’ve met Kirk Whalum. I’ve met Eric Marienthal. I’ve met Gerald Albright and people. So I am on stage and on the charts with people who are my heroes, people I looked up to. So that in and of itself is just a blessing.
From the business aspect of it, it’s pretty important that you have some music on the charts and get some radio play. So people worldwide really can see who you are, know who you are, and that makes it so I can play a show in Columbia, South Carolina, or Los Angeles, back home. So it was really important.
It means that people are checking out the music, and they actually enjoy it not just the fans, but the radio promoters and the radio stations dig it. So it just lets me know that, okay, I’m on the right path. I’m on the right path.
What does performing at an event like the All That Jazz Dinner Series at Mesler mean for you?
First and foremost and I think it’s something that I can’t gloss over, I’ve really enjoyed over the last, I would say 15 years of performing in a lot of spaces where I perform to people who look like me, and there’s nothing like it. The energy is different. We come from music, we know the music, I appreciate all the audiences do not get me wrong, but there’s something about playing for us that is fulfilling in a way spiritually, that it’s hard to put into words, and the Mesler is in one of my favorite neighborhoods in Chicago, right? Smack dab in Hyde Park on the Strip, 53rd Street.
I’m pretty excited about it. And I’m doing a pared-down version of what I do. It’s gonna be myself and my longtime keyboardist.
We’re just gonna go in, we play some Branford Marsalis, we’ll play some Marvin Gaye, we’re gonna be able to tap the gamut of the musical culture and everybody there is going to have something that they can really vibe out to, and it’s gonna be cool. Food’s great, the cocktails are great, and the atmosphere is wonderful. So I’m really excited about doing it.
Marqueal Jordan will perform at the All That Jazz Dinner Series at Mesler on June 26, 2025.
