Nicaraguan-American Marc LeGrand is a New York City-based guitarist, composer, producer, and music director whose work explores the space between composed and improvised music. His musical identity was shaped early by a remarkable family and musical lineage. His aunt, Patricia Thúmas, was a pioneering figure in San Francisco’s Latin and salsa community and the Bay Area’s first female Latin jazz pianist, performing with artists and ensembles including Ritmo ’74, John Santos’s Tipica Cienfuegos, and Francisco Aguabella. His uncle, José “Chepito” Areas, is the legendary Nicaraguan percussionist and original member of Santana, whose groundbreaking fusion of jazz, rock, and Latin music helped define a generation. Through both sides of his family, Marc developed an early connection to Latin music, jazz, improvisation, and the expressive possibilities of instrumental music.

Recognized as a musical prodigy during his teenage years, Marc immersed himself in bebop harmony, classical technique, composition, and improvisation while performing throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. His formative musical education included the Stanford Jazz Workshop and the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco, as well as study and mentorship within the Bay Area’s vibrant jazz and Latin music community. Among his formative influences were Dr. John Calloway, the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and educator whose career spans jazz, Latin music, film, television, and international performance; trumpeter Mike Galisatus, longtime bandleader and educator who has performed with artists including Tito Puente, Sheila E., Louis Bellson, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, and Mel Tormé; and trumpeter, composer, arranger, and educator Dr. Chuck MacKinnon, whose performance and recording credits include work with Norah Jones and John Mayer.

He went on to earn his B.M. in Guitar Performance from Houghton University’s Greatbatch School of Music on a performance scholarship, where he studied guitar, theory, musicianship, composition, improvisation, arranging, and ensemble performance. During his time at Houghton, he also studied with trombonist Dr. Ken Crane, whose professional career included touring with Maynard Ferguson, Clark Terry, and Buddy Rich, as well as performing with Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, Nancy Wilson, and Sammy Davis Jr.

After relocating to New York City, Marc’s work expanded across performance, composition, production, music direction, and education. His original music has received international recognition, including two 2023 Global Music Awards for Instrumentalist and Emerging Artist for his composition “Gallo Pinto.” In 2025, he was invited by Quilter Labs to appear as a featured artist at the NAMM Show, and was subsequently selected as a finalist for the Gutenberg Jazz Collective’s international residency program in Mainz, Germany.

Today, Marc’s work moves fluidly between jazz, Latin music, contemporary composition, experimental music, and sound design. He is an endorsed artist with Collings Guitars, Quilter Labs, Strymon, Traveler Guitar, Mortrix, Reunion Blues, and Radial Engineering, and is a member of the Chase Bliss artist program. His work as a guitarist and composer increasingly centers on exploring the expressive possibilities of acoustic instruments, effects, improvisation, and sound itself.

Marc is also the co-founder of food court people with violinist and composer Hannah LeGrand and co-directs the Global Musicianship Project with composer Dr. Mark Hijleh. Across his work as a guitarist, composer, producer, music director, and teacher, he is interested in music as an act of listening: a way of exploring attention, ambiguity, instinct, and the relationships that emerge when sound is allowed to remain curious.