Marion Hayden
Marion Hayden (born 1952) is an American jazz bass player from Detroit. She has performed and recorded with many musicians since the 1980s, and in 2025 she received the Kresge Eminent Artist Award.
Hayden grew up in Detroit’s Russell Woods neighborhood. Her father, Herbert Hayden, was a jazz record collector and pianist, and she was named after her mother, who taught high school chemistry and played classical piano. Her first instrument was cello at age nine because the bass wasn’t available in a small size. At twelve she was big enough to play the bass, and switching to bass helped her grow as a jazz musician. By age 15 she studied with Marcus Belgrave at Cass Tech High School, and she later finished Henry Ford High School.
She began college at the University of Michigan in 1973, majoring in journalism with a minor in entomology, and she also studied at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan for graduate work in natural sciences. Her parents worried that a career in music would be unstable, so after college she worked as an inspector for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, while continuing to play.
Hayden became a sought-after bassist, performing or recording with many artists such as Kirk Lightsey, Dizzy Gillespie, DeeDee Bridgewater, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Hutcherson, Gregory Porter, and others. She was a founding member of the all-female jazz group Straight Ahead, which released three albums on Atlantic Records. She is part of the Detroit International Jazz Festival All-Star Ambassadors touring ensemble.
She teaches in the Jazz Studies departments at the University of Michigan and Oakland University, and also teaches for Michigan State University Community Music School Detroit. She is an educator in residence for the Detroit Jazz Festival and serves as the bass instructor for the Geri Allen Jazz Camp in Newark, New Jersey.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:04 (CET).