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Multi-instrumentalist, producer and rapper Terrace Martin was born in Los Angeles (California, USA) on December 28, 1978. Son of jazz drummer Ernest "Curly" Martin and a singer mother, Terrace Jamahl Martin learned to play the piano at the age of six, then the saxophone as a teenager. After studying music at Locke High School and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), the musician joined drummer Billy Higgins' World Stage All-Stars orchestra and worked on Snoop Dogg's production, before signing an artist's contract with Warner Bros. His debut album The Demo (2010), featuring Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Pete Rock, Quick and Kurupt, was followed by numerous releases fusing rap, soul and jazz. In addition to the album Melrose produced in 2011 with Murs and a series of EPs and mixtapes, The 4 Luv Suite (2012), 3ChordFold (2013) and its derivatives 3ChordFold: Remixed (2013) and 3ChordFold: Pulse (2014) were released, followed by Times (2014). Collaborating with Kendrick Lamar on To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), Terrace Martin then released the album Velvet Portraits (2016) on his Sounds of Crenshaw label, distributed by Ropeadope Records, featuring Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, Lalah Hathaway and Thundercat. He takes part in The Pollyseeds projects for the album Sound of Crenshaw, Vol. 1 (2017) and Dinner Party, in which he reunites with Glasper and Washington, for the homonymous album released in 2020. Terrace Martin is also a sought-after producer, with a string of albums and collaborations under his own name, including Drones (2021), followed in 2023 by Fine Tune, a tribute to his father Curly, as well as I Left My Heart in Ladera with Alex Isley, Sneek with Gallant, The Near North Side with Calvin Keys and Ornamental. The year 2024 saw the release of the album Nintindo Soul and three EPs, Her Thoughts between jazz and R&B, Two Drink Minimum, in a jazz trio with Bew Williams and Paul Cornish, and the atmospheric Grounded. In 2025, he collaborates with R&B singer Kenyon Dixon on Come as You Are.
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