Jazz Articles about Mark Winkler

About Mark Winkler

Album Review

Mark Winkler: The Company I Keep

Read "The Company I Keep" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 28, 2017

The Beatles had it right when they noted that we get by with a little help from our friends. It's a fact that vocalist Mark Winkler can surely testify to. In the wake of losing his husband, Winkler found the comfort and strength he needed through the company he keeps and in the music that feeds his soul. That's the beautiful story behind this jazz soirée. The company of which the title of this record speaks is ...

Album Review

Mark Winkler: The Company I Keep

Read "The Company I Keep" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
May 9, 2017

The utility of music, at its very core, is entertainment. It is not all about dissonance and consonance, tonal conflict and resolution; heart and intellect, pathos and ethos. Somewhere in everything music has to offer, there must be a smile. It is in music's smile that vocalist Mark Winkler exists. An elegant West Coast mainstay, vocalist/lyricist/composer Winkler, drove across my radar first with his 2011 recording Sweet Spot (Café Pacific Records). I was struck by how well Winkler could skirt ...

Album Review

Mark Winkler: Jazz and Other Four Letter Words

Read "Jazz and Other Four Letter Words" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
August 8, 2015

On Jazz And Other Four Letter Words songwriter and vocalist Mark Winkler explores themes of love and romance and also takes time to investigate hipness. Exploration and investigation succeed joyously, resulting in one of the year's finest releases. Winkler's aided and abetted by some fine musicians-- pianist Jamieson Trotter (who also arranged most of the songs) and bassists Dan Lutz and John Clayton prove to be especially sympathetic. The Manhattan Transfer's Cheryl Bentyne duets with Winkler on two ...

Album Review

Mark Winkler: Jazz and Other Four Letter Words

Read "Jazz and Other Four Letter Words" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 2, 2015

Vocalist Mark Winkler has been something of a victim of his own talent: his work as a vocalist has often been routinely overlooked, largely eclipsed by his renown as a songwriter. But the tide seems to be turning for this cool school singer-of-note. With the critical success and positive public response to The Laura Nyro Project (Cafe Pacific Records, 2013), the arrival of his duo project with Cheryl Bentyne--West Coast Cool (Summit Records, 2013)--and this hipper-than-hip outing, Winkler is finally ...

Album Review

Mark Winkler: Jazz and Other Four Letter Words

Read "Jazz and Other Four Letter Words" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 24, 2015

Singer and lyricist Mark Winkler has been a common West Coast sight for many years. He has released seven releases, his previous one being the very well-received duet recording with {Manhattan Transfer}}'s soprano Cheryl Bentyne, West Coast Cool (Summit Records, 2013). That recording was right on the heels of Winkler's thematically motivated The Laura Nyro Project (Café Pacific, 2013). Again, well received and making my end-of-the-year list. Winkler returns with the clever Jazz and Other Four Letter ...

Interview

Mark Winkler: Peeling Back the Onion

by Scott Mitchell
June 7, 2013

Mark Winkler is a Los Angeles-based jazz singer, lyricist, and songwriter with over 150 songs to his credit and platinum records hanging on his wall. He has written songs with the likes of saxophonists Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter and Joshua Redman, as well as pianist David Benoit. Singers Randy Crawford, Dianne Reeves, Lea Salonga, Bob Dorough and Liza Minnelli have recorded and performed his songs. JazzTimes Magazine recognized Winkler as one of the top ten male jazz singers in 2011 ...

Album Review

Mark Winkler: The Laura Nyro Project

Read "The Laura Nyro Project" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 27, 2013

The combination of a unique and beautifully au courant voice with an equally rare and manifold composing talent makes for compelling listening. When the voice is that of vocalist/songwriter Mark Winkler and the songs are by Laura Nyro, the resulting project reaches criticality rapidly. Winkler has been composing and recording for the better part of 30 years, releasing ten recordings and penning upwards to 150 songs in that time. His previous recording, Sweet Spot (Cafe Pacific Records, 2011) was praised ...