Jim Marks (2)

Black poet from Palo Alto, California (USA), born around 1934, who has recorded 2 albums and who has published some 12 books of poetry, as well as three motivational books, since 1970 .Jym (with y) lives in Fremont and has worked in his Markstyle Barber And Beauty Salon in Menlo Park (Palo Alto) for 50 years, where he also ran an African-American bookstore. He has also led the Jym Marks Quartet (and occasionally Quintet when the band is joined by its saxophonist). Marks has been playing jazz since high school, and his first band, the Jym Marks Afro Ensemble, opened for Thelonious Monk at Palo Alto High School in 1967, one year before he opened his barbershop. He learned how to play drums, and was playing professionally by age 15. He'd sing doo-wop songs with friends on the street corner. He learned other instruments, including keyboards, and later would produce two albums in the early 1970s.