Jazz Articles about Mark O'Leary

Mark O'Leary: Flux and Shamanic Voices

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 1, 2008

These two releases by the exceptional Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary feature him at his best. On two undated sessions, O'Leary paired himself with singular yet highly collaborative musicians. The meetings which followed recalibrated O'Leary's playing away from its usual avant-fusion inclination and towards a new form of freer expressive articulation. Mark O'Leary/Dylan Van Der Schyff/Wayne Horvitz Flux FMR 2007

O'Leary has recorded before with pianists--on Chamber Trio with Matthew Shipp and on ...

Mark O'Leary: Two Avant-Fusion Guitar Trios

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 24, 2008

The prolific Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary likes to position himself in challenging musical outfits, usually trios, that discourage facile characterizations and expectations. The two trios featured on Ellipses and Signs highlight his avant-fusion approach. O'Leary says he's influenced by diverse sources ranging from avant-garde modern composers like Karl Heinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis to forward thinking sound sculptors like David Torn and Fennesz. But even if you can locate where his musical ideas stem from, it is always a surprise ...

Mark O'Leary: On the Shore

by AAJ Italy Staff
September 10, 2008

Dopo collaborazioni con Paul Bley, De Johnette ed altri, negli ultimi tre anni il chitarrista irlandese Mark O'Leary ha autoprodotto una quindicina di CD a suo nome, per la Clean Feed, la Ayler e soprattutto la Leo. Il che mi fa presupporre che egli abbia deciso di investire energie e denaro in una sistematica e ambiziosa operazione di autopromozione, dando un'immagine il più possibile completa e sfaccettata della sua ampia visione estetica e delle sue capacità di compositore, organizzatore e ...

Mark O' Leary: Signs

by AAJ Italy Staff
September 10, 2008

Il chitarrista Mark O’Leary cerca di individuare un suo percorso originale all’interno degli scenari del jazz attuale. In questo bel lavoro si muove con circospezione ed energia in trio, accompagnato da due eccellenti musicisti della West Coast statunitense, il bassista Steuart Leibig e il batterista Alex Cline. Le lunghissime linee eseguite in legato dal chitarrista lasciano intravedere qualche punto di contatto con gli album elettrici di Bill Connors e sono ben sostenute da un livello di interplay con Leibig e ...

Mark O'Leary: Ellipses

by Glenn Astarita
August 21, 2008

Irish guitar wunderkind Mark O'Leary has now set his sights on the jazz-fusion element, to complement his already expansive improvisational vernacular. This 2008 effort might open up a few more doors for an artist who possesses the goods to go anywhere he darn well pleases. For this project, O'Leary and his trio investigate black hole stars and prismatic galaxies, where time and space have no bearing on anything except the music at hand.

On the opening title track, ...

Mark O'Leary/Wayne Horvitz/Dylan Van Der Schyff: FLUX

by Glenn Astarita
July 3, 2008

Irish guitar wiz Mark O'Leary's relentless pursuit of melding his improvisational expertise with some of the top guns in the jazz-based business continues here during this trio setting recorded in Seattle, Washington. On this 2008 studio set, the musicians quietly surge into abstract-minimalism via the free-improv route. With O'Leary's harmonically appeasing volume control techniques and fluid single note flurries, the overall musical portraiture is often fabricated upon subtle exchanges amid delicately articulated peaks and valleys.

Pianist Wayne Horvitz ...

Mark O'Leary - Eyvind Kang - Dylan Van Der Schyff: Zemlya

by AAJ Italy Staff
June 19, 2008

Possono quattro composizioni che non superano i due minuti caratterizzare e determinare le sorti di un album, più dei brani che sfiorano i venti giri di lancette? Certamente, se nei primi vi si trova un concentrato di idee e di suoni baciati dal dono della sintesi, che soddisfano pienamente il palato dell’ascoltatore. E’ quello che succede in Zemlya dove i brani in questione sono delle vere e proprie perle musicali, un intreccio affascinante di pulsazioni elettroniche e corde pizzicate, bip ...