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Hey guys. I just joined up on this board through house of drumming, and I wanted to know how many of you have heard Mark play. I'm reading reviews that say Chambers and Williams really like(d) this cat. That's some serious feedback. (obviously) What do you all think?
Funny u should mention that now. On Sunday night i went into London to see mark play. I have had several lessons with mark and he is a personal friend. He was doing several days at Pizza Express Jazz club with a new york sax player called Don Braden.
I have seen mark play with his brother (a bassist) and they do the kinda be-bop meets fusion music and i think he is best at that and of course doing clinics and stuff......he is amazing. but the gig on sunday was a proper jazz gig.....u know the kinda swing stuff but they played the head and then went out on a limb for like 20 mins. im not normally into that sort of jazz however mark played amazing. he plays similar to tony.
his concept of time and pulse (the subject of my lessons) is mind boggling! even the sax player when announcing who was on the band stand said...."this is one of the finest drummers in the world!" he also plays left and right hand ride cymbals. when we spoke afterwards he said hes not quite happy with is coordination when he plays left hand ride cymbal....and im like "yeah right!!" lol its crazy! sunday was not the best ive seen him play.....but he is definitely worth checking out. unfortunately his video that he has out doesnt do him justice but he is on a John Mclaghlin cd..."promise" i think its called.
Check out Kevin Eubanks' "Turning Point", "Spirit Talk", and "Spirit Talk 2", if their still available. Marvin "Smitty" Smith is on most of the tracks but the rest is Mark. Very cool, intense jazz/fusion stuff. Smitty goes way over the top in some of his solos and Mark is just intense all the time, even when coasting along he's all over but not too in the way.
Mark is one of the reasons I started to really play drums (as opposed to just occasionally bashing on friends kits)
I have seen him play live and give clinics on a number of occasions and he is unbelievable....sadly I have never heard any Cds that do his playing justice. I was disappointed in the video too.
Bottom line - you HAVE to see this guy play, he is unique.