Mark Wade

Mark Wade

Musicians | Instrument: Bass | Location: New York City

'Songs From Isolation' isn't under any form of lockdown. Wade's solo work is out there in the wider world now, lending more strength to his reputation as a first-class bassist.

—All About Jazz

Updated: November 22, 2022

Born: December 29, 1974

Modern jazz composer and bassist Mark Wade is open to appreciating and co-creating great music in all its forms. Like Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis and Esperanza Spaulding, he’s not limited by genre. His fourth album shows the breadth of his musicality and inventive compositional style. Called "a living work of modern art" by Downbeat Magazine, the original tracks found on his 2022 album True Stories were inspired by a wide range of influences, drawing on themes from composers such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Igor Stravinsky. The result is a unique expression of jazz linking past to present.

Wade’s critical successes have led to him being named one of the top bassists of the year for five of the last six years in the Downbeat Magazine Reader’s Poll. He gained international recognition for his trio with the 2015 recording Event Horizon on Edition 46 Records and the 2018 follow up Moving Day on AMP Music & Records. In 2020 he launched a unique solo project - a visual album. Debuted online from the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music in Durban, South Africa, Songs from Isolation was released worldwide on AMP Music & Records. It features acoustic and electric bass and the plethora of sounds those instruments can create. The tunes are accompanied by music videos created by the bassist. That sonic and technological exploration was a fascinating prelude to his next project. True Stories is a modern jazz compendium inspired by a lifetime of listening – a leap forward fueled by looking back.

Born in Michigan, Wade moved to New Jersey as a child. He began his musical journey by teaching himself to play electric bass at age 14. At New York University, renowned bassist Mike Richmond encouraged him to take up acoustic bass for jazz and to hone bow technique and sight-reading abilities. (That also opened the door to playing  European classical music.) In 1997 he earned a B.A. in music with a concentration in jazz.

In NYC, Wade has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, The Iridium and Birdland. He is a former artist in residence at Flushing Town Hall and tours in North America and Europe. He has played with jazz notables James Spaulding, Eddie Palmieri, Conrad Herwig, Harry Whitaker, Stacey Kent, Peter Eldridge, Don Byron and Jimmy Heath, and is a member of the Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra. On the classical side, he has appeared with the Key West Symphony featuring Grammy Award winners Sharon Isbin and Robert McDuffie, Orchestra of the S.E.M./Janacek Philharmonic (Czech Republic) at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as Orchestra of the Bronx, Bronx Opera, DiCapo Opera and Light Opera of New York.

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16
Album Review

Mark Wade: Songs From Isolation

Read "Songs From Isolation" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Despite the obvious alignment in terms of timing, circumstances and creation, this project didn't simply manifest itself in the moment. Mark Wade has always had a solo bass outing in his sights. He just didn't take firm aim and follow through until now. That belief in patience, ultimately, helped to yield rewards. Rather than work with a more-is-more mindset that less mature players might adopt, Wade uses his experience to guide the way on this visual album crafted during COVID-19 ...

28
Take Five With...

Take Five with Mark Wade

Read "Take Five with Mark Wade" reviewed by Mark Wade


Meet Mark Wade Voted one of the top bassists of 2016, 2018, and 2019 in the prestigious Downbeat Magazine Reader's Poll, Mark Wade has been active in the NYC area for over 20 years. His debut album Event Horizon (2015) and follow up release Moving Day (2018) received international acclaim, and Moving Day was picked as the Album of the Year for 2018 by Something Else Reviews. Wade has received numerous features, reviews and interviews about his recordings and has ...

15
Album Review

Mark Wade Trio: Moving Day

Read "Moving Day" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Moving days are never easy. They come with the organizational stresses surrounding the act itself, the memories attached to the space departed, and the unknowns that await. But they also provide a rush of excitement, a touch of anticipation, and a good deal of hope connected to a fresh start and the journey toward a new dwelling. All of those feelings and more are wrapped up in this absorbing album's title track. And with its focal shifts, communicative spirit, and ...

64
Album Review

Mark Wade Trio: Event Horizon

Read "Event Horizon" reviewed by Jeffrey Uhrich


With his impressive debut release, Event Horizon, bassist/composer Mark Wade and his trio create a soundscape of musical expression, using their chemistry with one another and their mastery of their instruments to create an intimate interplay of ideas and jazz repartee. The Mark Wade Trio consists of three seasoned musicians that have performed together as a trio for the past two years: Wade on bass, Tim Harrison on piano, and Scott Neumann on drums. Although one might be tempted to ...

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3

Recording

Bassist Mark Wade Trio Releases 'True Stories'

Bassist Mark Wade Trio Releases 'True Stories'

Source: Jazz Beyond Borders

Modern jazz composer and bassist Mark Wade is open to appreciating and co-creating great music in all its forms, and clearly not limited by genre. True Stories, his fourth album, shows the breadth of his musicality and inventive compositional style. Eight original tracks (and one cover) were inspired by a wide range of influences, drawing on themes from composers such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Igor Stravinsky. The result: a unique expression of jazz linking past to present. Wade’s ...

4

Event

Mark Wade Trio At Montpelier Arts Center on March 15, 2019

Mark Wade Trio At Montpelier Arts Center on March 15, 2019

Source: Jazz Beyond Borders

Bassist Mark Wade brings his trio to Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, Maryland for a concert featuring selections from his latest (2018) album, Moving Day. The New York based trio also includes pianist Tim Harrison and drummer Scott Neumann. Voted one of the top 10 bassists of 2018 and 2016 by the prestigious Downbeat Magazine Reader’s Poll, Mark Wade has been active in the NYC jazz scene for 20 years. He has played with other notable jazz artists such as ...

2

Recording

"Moving Day," 2nd CD By Bassist/Composer Mark Wade & His Trio, Set For February 2nd Release

"Moving Day," 2nd CD By Bassist/Composer Mark Wade & His Trio, Set For February 2nd Release

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

On their 2015 debut, Event Horizon, bassist/composer Mark Wade and his trio displayed an uncanny empathy and earned a warm reception from press, radio, and fans. Moving Day, his sophomore recording which will be released February 2 by his label Mark Wade Music, showcases the evolution of the trio’s tight, seemingly telepathic interplay. “We’ve had a chance to develop a sound and identity and an understanding of one another as an ensemble. We had some of that with the first ...

2

Recording

Bassist/Composer Mark Wade Debuts With "Event Horizon," Feb. 17

Bassist/Composer Mark Wade Debuts With "Event Horizon," Feb. 17

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

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 ...

"One of the key bass players of the times." - Sammy Stein, Jazz in Europe "One is immediately struck by his magnificent – even magisterial – tonal color, and his articulation is informed by a dark elegance that is easy to be seduced by...All in all this is an album where an almost heroic world of bass styling is evoked while also sculpting the trio sound with enormous skill and telling effect.' - Jazz Da Gama "All three musicians on Moving Day form a trio of unusual strength and extraordinary power, possessing their own musical dialect. In every piece we see the uncanny bond of coherence and an almost telepathic understanding between the artists...a formation with a potential comparable only with the most perfect ensembles in jazz history...a perfect album!" - LongPlay 'In the world of stars, It's difficult to be in the shadow of Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, Mirouslav Vitous, Eberhard Weber, etc

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Primary Instrument

Bass

Location

New York City

Credentials/Background

Jazz Faculty at Lehigh University New York Pops Teaching Artist

Contact

Publicist

Jazz Beyond Borders

Management

Jazz Beyond Borders

Links

Followers

All About Jazz user Ravita Jazz

Music

Apogee

From: Event Horizon
By Mark Wade