Marlon Funaki is a self-taught guitarist from Highland, California who plays like he’s chasing something just out of reach. His set for Jam in the Van doesn’t just showcase his chops-it captures an artist mid-evolution, pulling threads from jazz, rock, surf, and soul into something raw, hypnotic, and unmistakably his own.
At 23, Funaki is already building a sound that defies easy labels. There are shades of jazz in his phrasing, bursts of psychedelic fuzz, and the emotional urgency of DIY alt-rock. Call it alt rock jazz if you need a name-but what you’re really hearing is an artist tearing down walls between genres, live and in real time.
Filmed inside Jam in the Van’s off-the-grid mobile studio: a roving landmark in the world of underground live sessions-Set 205 feels more like a sonic journal entry than a polished performance. Funaki plays with instinct. Every groove breathes. Every solo feels like it could go off the rails at any second, only to land exactly where it should.
This is the kind of set that makes you lean in. It’s not flashy. It’s not trying to go viral. It’s just honest-groove-heavy, guitar-forward, and full of feeling. For fans of genre-bending musicianship, low-key virtuosity, and the new wave of alt rock jazz fusion, Marlon Funaki is a name worth remembering.