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Markus Rutz

Markus Rutz plays trumpet with a bluesy, soulful style and a tone that has been called gorgeous.

About Me

Trumpet player and composer Markus Rutz leads small group jazz ensembles for public performances and private events. He has performed throughout Chicago and the midwest for club and venue engagements featuring jazz standards and original jazz compositions.

Composition, arrangement and performance of original tunes is an integral element of his sound and experience. Coupled with renditions of jazz and songbook standards, the originals create an enjoyable, true listening experience in performance. To date, seventeen of his original compositions have been recorded.  Several of these have been performed by and added to the books of band leaders in Chicago.

The recorded originals are represented on two studio albums released as It's Cooler by the Lake and Second Impression. The most recent recording was re- released in digital format in December of 2016 with two additional tracks.  It received a 3 1/2 star rating in an early 2017 review from J.D. Considine at DownBeat magazine.

From the greater Chicago area originally, Markus began trumpet study at the age of 9 and as a music student studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a summer semester at Berklee College and the University of New Orleans where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.