Tina Marsh

---

title: "Tina Marsh" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1954-births", "2009-deaths", "20th-century-american-singers", "american-women-jazz-singers", "american-jazz-bandleaders", "american-jazz-singers", "deaths-from-breast-cancer-in-texas", "experimental-big-band-bandleaders", "american-women-jazz-composers", "musicians-from-austin,-texas", "people-from-annapolis,-maryland", "jazz-musicians-from-maryland", "20th-century-american-women-singers", "jazz-musicians-from-texas", "20th-century-american-jazz-composers", "20th-century-american-women-composers", "21st-century-american-women"] description: "American jazz vocalist and composer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Marsh" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American jazz vocalist and composer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]

Field	Value
name	Tina Marsh
background	solo_singer
birth_name	Kristin Conway Marsh
birth_date
birth_place	Annapolis, Maryland, U. S.
death_date
death_place	Austin, Texas
genre	Jazz
occupation	Singer
years_active	1979–2009
label	CreOp Muse
past_member_of	Creative Opportunity Orchestra
::

| name = Tina Marsh | image = | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Kristin Conway Marsh | birth_date = | birth_place =Annapolis, Maryland, U. S. | death_date = | death_place = Austin, Texas | genre = Jazz | occupation = Singer | years_active = 1979–2009 | label = CreOp Muse | past_member_of = Creative Opportunity Orchestra

Tina Marsh (January 18, 1954, – June 16, 2009) was a jazz vocalist and composer based in Austin, Texas. She was the creative director of the Creative Opportunity Orchestra, a large jazz ensemble which she founded in 1980.

Early life and career

Marsh was born in Annapolis, Maryland. During the late-1970s, she worked as an actor in musical theatre in and around New York City and Philadelphia. While living in New York, she began forming ideas about jazz singing. After moving to Austin, Marsh attended concerts by Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers at Armadillo World Headquarters. These performances inspired her to form her first professional group, New Visions Ensemble, with Alex Coke, Rock Savage, Booka Michel, and Horatio Rodriguez.

In 1980, at the suggestion of Charlie Haden, Marsh studied at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York. Upon returning to Austin, she formed the Creative Opportunity Orchestra with the members of New Visions Ensemble at its core. began as a cooperative organization, similar to the AACM, though Marsh gradually assumed a managerial role and became the group's director.

Marsh went on to perform with Carla Bley, Hamiett Bluiett, Vinny Golia, Dennis González, Billy Hart, Roscoe Mitchell, Steve Swallow, and Kenny Wheeler. Marsh and the ensemble performed at the Laguna Gloria amphitheater in Austin. She was a participant in the Austin Jazz Workshop.

In 1994, Marsh was diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer.{{cite news|first=Raoul |last=Hernandez |title='s Tina Marsh: The Perils of Jazz |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol14/issue40/jazz.marsh.40.html |work=Austin Chronicle |publisher=Austin Chronicle Corp. |location=Austin, TX|date =June 8, 1995 | access-date=May 15, 2008}} In February 2008, she learned that the cancer had returned and metastasized, though she continued to record and perform later in the year. Marsh died on June 16, 2009.

Awards and honors

In 2000, the Austin Chronicle inducted Marsh into its Texas Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, the Austin Critics Table inducted Marsh into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame.

The Austin History Center maintains a collection of Marsh's papers.

C. Michael Bailey of All About Jazz described Marsh's music as "progressive big band, a kind of marriage between the avant-garde and postmodern classical. Marsh, like [Carla] Bley, favors low brass in assembly and solos. She uses her voice in a creative Meredith Monk sort of way that is not unattractive."

Discography

As leader

• The Heaven Line, with the Creative Opportunity Orchestra (CreOp Muse, 1994)
• World Wide (CreOp Muse, 1998)

With Alex Coke

• Iraqnophobia (VoxLox, 2005)
• It's Possible (VoxLox, 2008)

References

References

1. Rosenblatt, Josh. "Tina Marsh". [[The Austin Chronicle.
2. (June 17, 2009). "Creativity poured out of her like the scent of honeysuckle". Austin American-Statesman.
3. "About". Tina Marsh & the Creative Opportunity Orchestra.
4. Van Trikt, Ludwig. (December 2005). "Tina Marsh interview, January 31, 2005, Austin, TX". Cadnor.
5. (1 February 2008). "Off the Record".
6. Brad, Buchholz. (5 September 2009). "Once more, for Tina". Austin American-Statesman.
7. "Bios". Tina Marsh & the Creative Opportunity Orchestra.
8. "Austin Chronicle Music Poll Hall of Fame inductees". Austin Chronicle.
9. Faires, Robert. (April 25, 2008). "Austin Arts Hall of Fame: Class of 2008".
10. "Tina Marsh Papers: An Inventory of the Collection". Texas Archival Resources Online.
11. (1 June 2000). "Tina Marsh and the Creative Opportunity Orchestra ({{CO2}}): The Heaven Line/World Wide".
12. "The Heaven Line - Credits".
13. "Iraqnophobia - Credits".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::