• Check out Marc's latest CD, Determination!

  • After a six-year run, Marc's steady engagement at El Chapultepec is over, so he is actively seeking out new venues!

  • Interested in hiring Marc for a gig, but want to know more? Try the Listen online and Read more links.

Marc Sabatella is a jazz pianist, composer, and educator based in Denver, Colorado (USA). His music has been characterized as “happily subverting the mainstream,” combining the “unpredictability of Thelonious Monk and lyricism of Bill Evans.”

For two years, Marc could be heard leading the band every Friday night at Denver's most famous jazz club, El Chapultepec, and he was the house pianist there for six years in all. He has also headlined at virtually all other Denver area jazz clubs over the years, including Dazzle, Vartan Jazz, Trios, and Sambuca. Marc has worked with the area's top players, including Keith Oxman, Fred Hess, Ron Miles, Art Lande, and Hugh Ragin, as well as jazz greats such as Delfeayo Marsalis, Bobby Shew, John Fedchock, Allan Harris, Greg Abate, Red Holloway, Pete Christlieb, Marcus Printup, Wessell Anderson, Javon Jackson, Chico Freeman, Mel Martin, Sunny Wilkinson, and others. Marc has released several recordings as a leader in addition to appearing as a sideman on CDs by Hess and Ragin. The latest release by the Marc Sabatella Quartet is Determination.

Marc received an MM in Composition (Jazz Emphasis) from the University of Denver, where he currently teaches Jazz Theory and Aural Skills. In addition to his course at DU, Marc teaches privately, and at Regis University and the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts. Marc has also worked as an arranger on the acclaimed Real Book series - the definitive jazz fakebook from publishing giant Hal Leonard.

Marc is recognized internationally as the author of A Jazz Improvisation Primer. This work is perhaps the oldest and best known online jazz reference in the world. It has been translated into several other languages and is published in printed form as A Whole Approach To Jazz Improvisation. Marc has also published The Harmonic Language of Jazz Standards, and both books are distributed by jazz education legend Jamey Aebersold.