Music
Marion Hayden
born 1952 · jazz bassist, educator
Detroit bassist, a Marcus Belgrave student at Cass Tech, founding member of the all-woman band Straight Ahead and 2025 Kresge Eminent Artist.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Detroit years
- 1952–
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Hayden grew up in the historic Russell Woods neighborhood on Detroit's west side and by fifteen was studying with trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, then artist in residence at Cass Technical High School, where she was a student; she later graduated from Henry Ford High School. Music was not her only path: at the University of Michigan she majored in journalism with a minor in entomology, did graduate work in the natural sciences and worked as an inspector for the Michigan Department of Agriculture. On the bandstand she became a first-call bassist, and she was a founding member of Straight Ahead, the Grammy-nominated all-woman Detroit jazz group that recorded three albums for Atlantic in the 1990s. She has performed or recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Burrell, Lionel Hampton, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Gregory Porter, released Visions as a leader in 2009, and teaches at the University of Michigan and Oakland University. In 2025 she received the Kresge Eminent Artist Award.
Highlights
- Studied with Marcus Belgrave at Cass Tech
- Founding member of Straight Ahead; three Atlantic albums (1991–1995)
- Played with Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Burrell and Lionel Hampton
- Educator in residence for the Detroit Jazz Festival
- Kresge Eminent Artist (2025)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · late 1960s
Cass Technical High School
Where teenage Hayden studied with artist in residence Marcus Belgrave.