Shifts in the recording industry have paralleled changes in Marcus Singletary’s life. But his atypical musical style continues to deviate from expectation.
Icons like Paul McCartney, Todd Rundgren, and Prince were once praised for their ability to play several instruments. Today, such talents have become commonplace, giving musicians ample opportunities to emulate their heroes while keeping costs down and engaging in the type of artist development that record labels once provided.
“I was introduced to Pro Tools by an audio engineer in Los Angeles whose entire apartment was set up like a studio,” Marcus Singletary recalls. Also a multi-instrumentalist, Singletary says, “Although I had gained some studio experience, I had never seen anything like this.” Inspiration struck – leading to the purchase of a few Shure microphones, a Gateway PC, and some software – and he began crafting the sounds heard over the first 13 cuts of The Complete Aviation Studio Albums (2004-2020) – a 50-song collection of his early works.
Instrumental versatility paid off in professional studios, alongside such notables as audio engineers Don Casale and Ross Pallone, and ex-Doobie Brothers drummer Chet McCracken. Songs like “Can It Be Real,” “Get the Dance Gene,” “Got the Power,” and “Greenstone Pala” were cut on the clock, and with adherence to a strict schedule. “I captured the right parts quickly, and with a “final take” mentality,” he says of the differences between this jazz-inflected period and prior blues-laden simplicities like “My Mind’s Working Overtime,” “Super Tuesday,” and “Train.”
Later, the PC was replaced by a Mac, and Singletary assembled adventurous concept albums Defiance Science (2015) and Subversive Blues (2016) from his own studio in the San Fernando Valley area of Southern California. He rocked out on the pandemic-era Born to Be Wild (2020), and on 2023’s The Breakaway, he improvised eight performances on an acoustic Martin guitar with pedals providing the accompaniment for most. “Many musicians are intimidated by the process of recording,” he states. “In he friendly confines of a home studio, though, you have a greater chance of capturing your very best performances, as the intimacy is both comfortable and inviting.”
A heavy diet of six-string pioneers Larry Coryell, Wes Montgomery, Gary Duncan (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Mick Taylor (John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, the Rolling Stones), and Terry Kath (Chicago) coincided with formative stages of personal growth for Singletary, who also expresses an affinity for John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, and Miles Davis. “Their solos could easily be considered songs themselves,” he reflects. “Each blazed trails through crazy time signatures with searing extrapolations that diverged greatly from the established standards of jazz.”
Compositions from The Breakaway like “Magic Mushroom Hotel,” “New Anatolian Saga,” and “Three Windows, Five Walls, No Doors” surrender all possible inhibitions while leaping over limitations that could be subconsciously imposed by the normal mechanisms of the human body and brain. The strenuous mental and physical exertion utilized within the music leads to the conclusion that some original ideas do, in fact, exist. “Regardless of what many people claim,” Singletary explains, “Such cynicism is usually the bastion of those who have not faced consternation over – nor sacrificed anything for the sake of – creativity.”
For more information on The Breakaway and other releases by Marcus Singletary, visit www.marcussingletary.com. Follow him on Facebook (@MarcusSingletaryMusic), Twitter (@SingletaryMusic), and YouTube (@MarcusSingletary).
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