Marc Willis is a new age jazz pianist/composer who plays with great energy and passion. Though he has only been playing for five years, he very quickly developed into a highly skilled pianist/composer. Since that time, he has composed a very large library of music. Marc began the study of music at the age of eight, first starting on the trumpet, then quickly moving to guitar. He wrote several rock and jazz pieces on guitar, but never joined a band or pursued a career in music. Five years ago, while studying physics in college, Marc took a beginning piano class. After about a year, he began to develop at a very fast pace. He has continued to compose at a very high rate, and already has enough material for several CDs. In August of 2003, while attending college in the Los Angeles area, Marc received a recommendation from a professor, allowing him to complete a recording session at the University Music Hall. The session was extremely inexpensive, with one catch, Marc could only have access to the Hall for two hours! He planned to record just under two hours of material, meaning everything had to be done in one take. Marc practiced diligently every day for two to three hours, while continuing to go to college full-time, and finding time to compete in the U.S Open Chess Championship! Marc was very pleased with the recording session! But at this point, Marc still considered himself a college student and not a professional pianist/composer. That all changed in October of 2003, during a vacation in Las Vegas. Marc had worked extremely hard in school, and decided to go to Las Vegas to relax. While there, he went to a local church to ask if he could practice on their piano. The church secretary immediately agreed, and opened the chapel doors for him. Marc began to play his music, and within ten minutes, the church secretary walked into the chapel and said, "Do you want to play here next week?" Marc was amazed, and quickly said yes. The performance was November 3rd, 2003, and was electrifying!!! The church was filled to capacity, and everyone was blown away by his music! It was at this point that Marc made the decision to launch a professional career. In early December, 2003, Marc performed at the Jewel Box, a recital hall at the Las Vegas library. And in January of 2004, Marc won the Las Vegas Band Slam competition, a performance contest for creative artists of various musical genres. In February of 2004, after moving back to Pasadena, Marc gave a free performance at the Pasadena Manor, a retirement home in Pasadena. In March of 2004, Marc had his CD re-mastered, hand-picking nine tracks from the recording session in August of 2003, and named it Ocean Blue. On May 11th, Marc performed at Caesar's Palace in the Palace Ballroom as the opening act for the Best Of Broadway musical. The audience of over 1,100 were extremely astonished by his performance! In addition to pieces from Ocean Blue, Marc performed several pieces from his upcoming CD, and was very pleased by the audience's response! After the performance at Caesar's Palace, Marc took a few months off from music to continue his physics studies. During this time he continued to write more pieces. He plans to record his next CD in Febuary of 2006.