Mark Wade Event Horizon Bassist Mark Wade
takes the art of the trio to brilliant new heights with his debut recording
Event Horizon, to be released February 17, 2015 by his Mark Wade Music imprint.
Working with trio-mates Tim Harrison, piano, and Scott Neumann, drums, Wade
shines as an instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader.
"I
always loved listening to great piano trios," the Queens, New York-based
bassist says. "With no horn players or other musicians, there is so much
space for expression, but with that comes the responsibility to have something
to say. You can't hide behind a lot of other musicians. Everybody has to really
stand out. I wanted to challenge myself and put myself in a situation where I
had to be an excellent soloist."
Writing
for the piano trio was a challenge Wade embraced. "How can you orchestrate
and arrange three instruments to sound big and full?" he asks. "If
you've got 12 or 20 people, you have a lot more colors at your disposal as a
writer. With three people, it forces you to think about what is really
essential to get across a musical idea."
Wade's
compositions range from the opening waltz, "Jump for Joy," and the
peaceful ballad "Cold Spring" to the aggressive, edgy "Twist in
the Wind" and the Afro-Cuban-flavored "Tossed." The ballad
"Apogee" has no time, while "Singsong" has no melody
("It's a motif that keeps coming back, holding the song together").
The only non-original on the disc, Harold Arlen's "If I Only Had a
Brain," is notable for its use of swinging 5/4 and its re-harmonization
and modulations.
The
title Event Horizon, says the self-described "science enthusiast,"
refers to "where you go from not being in a black hole to falling in. In a
broader concept, it's the edge at which something happens. This album for me is
kind of the edge of something happening because I'm launching my solo career. I
see it as an adventure, a stepping-off point."
Wade
first worked in a trio setting with Tim Harrison and Scott Neumann while the
bassist was an artist-in-residence at the historic Flushing (NY) Town Hall in
2013 and '14. The three connected so well that Wade began composing for the new
trio. "Their musicality," he says, "influenced the writing
choices I made."
"Tim
really excels," says Wade of the Nottingham, England-born Harrison,
"not just as a soloist but also as an ensemble player and an accompanist.
He's very sensitive, he listens, and he's really conscious about getting the
music right and sounding good."
"Scott
is a unique voice on the drum set," Wade says of Neumann, who was born in
Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and whose extensive credits include work with Woody
Herman, David Liebman, and Kenny Barron. "There's a never-ending supply of
ideas for everybody to play off of."
Mark WadeMark Wade was born in Livonia,
Michigan (Dec. 29, 1974) and raised there and in Long Valley and Morristown,
New Jersey, where he taught himself to play electric bass at age 14. At New
York University, he studied with Mike Richmond, who encouraged him to also take
up acoustic bass for jazz gigs. Wade considers Richmond a major influence,
along with Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, and Scott LaFaro.
Since
graduating NYU, Wade has busied himself in a variety of musical contexts, from
jazz to classical. His jazz credits include playing in the string section for
the Jimmy Heath Big Band's performances of Ernie Wilkins's Four Black
Immortals, appearing with vocalist Stacey Kent on The Today Show, playing with
Bill Warfield's New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra, and recording with vocalist
Elli Fordyce. And Wade has played with numerous classical ensembles, including
the Key West Symphony with which he backed guitarist Sharon Isbin and violinist
Robert McDuffie, both of them Grammy winners.
Wade
also directs New Music Horizons, an organization he founded in 2014 to perform
and promote the works of emerging jazz and classical composers. "There are
a lot of challenges composers face in getting their music accepted," he
says. "Top venues often don't want to program artists who don't already
have a large following. Reaching new audiences is difficult when you aren't
playing at top venues. It's a tough cycle to break. I started New Music
Horizons to give composers a chance to showcase their work at established arts
venues to attract new audiences to their music. I think this kind of support is
critical to the long-term success of new music."
The Mark
Wade Trio will be performing at two CD release shows in support of Event
Horizon: 3/5 Somethin' Jazz Club, 212 E. 52nd Street, NYC, 7:00-8:45pm; and
4/15 St. Peter's Church Midday Jazz Series, 619 Lexington Ave. at 54th Street,
NYC, 1:00-2:00pm.
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