Marshall Hawkins

Marshall Hawkins founded the Idyllwild Arts Jazz Program with the intention of giving young musicians the same kind of individual mentoring that he received while growing up in Washington, D.C., and later from jazz immortals like Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock when he played the standup bass with them. Marshall's passion for music and for helping young musicians excel has moved former students like the drummer Andy Fraga, Jr., Class of 1997, to call him not only a great teacher, but "an artist on a deeper spiritual level." Fraga points out that to masters like Davis and Hancock, jazz has always been "a huge spiritual thing, and Marshall is steeped in that history and he brings it to every note he plays.”