Inheritance is the 2012 sophomore album in follow-up to Marcus’s nine-piece orchestra recording In Pursuit of the 9th Man in 2006.  Inheritance showcases Marcus’s compositional and virtuosic improvisational abilities in the modern mainstream quartet setting with two distinct rhythm sections. One features Marcus with Xavier Davis on piano, Eric Wheeler on bass, and Eric Kennedy on drums, playing Marcus’s more introspective pieces and is augmented by special guest Don Byron on clarinet on three tracks. The other rhythm section features George Colligan on piano, Wheeler on bass, and Warren Wolf on drums, helping to propel Marcus’s more uptempo compositions.

The album includes arrangements of jazz standards and several originals that showcase Marcus’s initial efforts to incorporate Middle Eastern themes in his writing, a nod to his paternal Egyptian heritage.  As JazzTimes contributor David R. Adler writes in the album liner notes, “It was In Pursuit of the 9th Man that made people sit up and take notice of Marcus – he was quickly tapped as a core arranger and composer for Orrin Evans’s incendiary Captain Black Big Band – and it’s Inheritance that will propel him to the next stages of his creative journey.”