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Mark Helias
Eight albums of his music have been released since 1984, including Split Image, The Current Set (1987), Desert Blue (1989) and Attack The Future, (1992) Loopin' the Cool (1995), Fictionary (1998), Come Ahead Back (1998) and New School (2001) Verbs of Will (2003).
Mr. Helias had a seventeen year association with the great drummer Edward Blackwell, with whom he recorded two CDs. He has also collaborated for 26 years with Ray Anderson and Gerry Hemingway in the ensemble BassDrumBone. A prolific composer of small ensemble music he has composed music for short films and two feature films by director Jay Anania.
Helias has worked with numerous bands including those of Oliver Lake, Slickaphonics, Julius Hemphill, Marilyn Crispell, Arthur Blythe, Abbey Lincoln, Karrin Allison, Cecil Taylor, Barry Altschul, Don Byron, Mose Alison and Marty Ehrlich's "Dark Woods Ensemble". In addition to his many performances on records and CDs, Mr. Helias has produced recordings for other artists on the Gramavision, Enja, New World, Arabesque, Sound Aspects, and Avant/DIW labels.
Presently, Mark is leading and collaborating on various projects: Open/Loose with Tony Malaby and Tom Rainey, Solo Bass performances, The Marks Brothers with fellow bassist Mark Dresser, MOI Project-a sextet with varying personnel, Attack the Future a quartet/quintet. Mr. Helias, a graduate of Rutgers University and Yale School of Music teaches at Sarah Lawrence College, The New School and SIM (School for Improvised Music)
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Erik Friedlander: Dirty Boxing / Floating City
by Vic Albani
Ironico come sempre, Erik Friedlander torna sul mercato con un singolare nuovo lavoro intitolato Dirty Boxing dedicato al crudo vocabolario delle arti marziali miste (!!!) con tanto di guantoni da boxe in copertina. Il gioco è quello di esplorare gli imprevisti parallelismi tra la disciplina artistica della musica e il combattimento strategico delle arti marziali. Il violoncellista newyorkese, come al solito molto intelligente ed attento, si circonda della bellezza musicale di Uri Caine al pianoforte, Mark Helias al ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman Quartet: Water Music
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un free piuttosto spinto apre questo CD inciso ormai due anni or sono (novembre 2022) da un quartetto coi controfiocchi, in grado di cacciarsi a capofitto nella tenaglia dell'improvvisazione senza rete con la quasi certezza di venirne fuori brillantemente. E' quanto gli otto brani su cui la sfida si sdipana ci confermano a chiare lettere, con l'iperpresenzialismo tante volte dimostrato da Ivo Perelman (nel singolo album ma anche con l'elefantiaca, scriteriata produzione di qualche anno fa) che sa farsi invece ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman Quartet: Water Music
by John Sharpe
New and old converge on Water Music. Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman showcases a quartet with longstanding partner Matthew Shipp on piano together with the fresh rhythm axis of bassist Mark Helias and drummer Tom Rainey. Although they have not played with Perelman before, they are not exactly Johnny-come-latelys. Both have achieved veteran status, not only individually, but also as a team, exemplified by Rainey having fuelled Helias' mighty Open Loose trio since its inception back in the late 1990s.
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman Quartet: Water Music
by Mark Corroto
Come on a rafting expedition with the Ivo Perelman Quartet. A river excursion is a perfect metaphor for the saxophonist's Water Music. Those familiar with the anomalous and idiosyncratic sounds that emanate from Perelman's saxophone also know he is attuned and reactive to the set and setting of a performance. Just as a trip on a raft is conditioned by the river's flow, gradients, constrictions and any obstacles in its way, the same can be said of Perelman's music.
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman / Mark Hellias / Tom Rainey Truth Seeker: Truth Seeker
by Mike Jurkovic
Saxophonist Ivo Perelman has a very deep understanding of time and space. He knows deep down these things, these oddly elusive concepts that bind us to the irreparable now, are truly meant to serve as agents of creation, of freedom. Of the freedom to create without corruption. He also senses on the most granular level that creation is a minute-by-minute thing. Or it should be. On his umpteenth release of the new year, Perelman, in studio for the ...
Continue ReadingQuinsin Nachoff: Stars and Constellations
by Vincenzo Roggero
Quinsin Nachoff è personaggio atipico nell'attuale panorama musicale. Attivo e apprezzato interprete di musica classica come di musica improvvisata, continua a operare con successo in entrambi i campi ma da anni,--attraverso lavori commissionati ad hoc, progetti multimediali che coinvolgono esperti di fisica, cineasti, orchestre da camera, quartetti d'archi --, sta portando avanti una personale visione delle possibili convivenze tra i due mondi musicali. Niente di nuovo, si dirà--senza scomodare ingombranti richiami alla Third Stream Music--sono numerosi i ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp & Mark Helias: The New Syntax
by John Sharpe
Pianist Matthew Shipp particularly favors the duo format. Among a discography of more than 300 entries are winning combinations with partners as varied as trumpeter Nate Wooley, violist Mat Maneri, and saxophonists Darius Jones, Rob Brown and Evan Parker. But he retains a special fondness for the bass/piano twosome, accounting for multiple meetings with longtime comrade William Parker and the current occupant of the bass chair in his trio, Michael Bisio. To that illustrious roster can also be added his ...
Continue ReadingJane Ira Bloom & Mark Helias Release 'Some Kind Of Tomorrow' On Bandcamp
Source:
Crossover Media
Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and bassist Mark Helias come together to create duets discovered in the moment in a way that is rarely heard today with Some Kind of Tomorrow. The long time bandmates, separated by space and time find a way to play in real time with one another and the results are magical. Two master improvisers and composers bring listeners up-close and personal to the first spark of their imaginations at work, recording eleven duet improvisations over ...
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Enter the "Gordon Grdina and Mark Helias - No Difference" Giveaway at All About Jazz!
Source:
All About Jazz
All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Songlines Recordings “Gordon Grdina and Mark Helias - No Difference“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on January 21st. Click here to enter the contest (Becoming a fan of Gordon Grdina at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.) Good luck! Your Friends at Songlines Recordings About No Difference Vancouver-based guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina has been involved in many ...
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Jane Ira Bloom Trio with Mark Helias & Bobby Previte at Cornelia Street Cafe on June 13th
Source:
Michael Ricci
Soprano saxophonist, composer and former NASA artist Jane Ira Bloom brings her trio to Cornelia Street Cafe for the first time on June 13th with long-time bandmates bassist Mark Helias and drummer Bobby Previte. They're fresh out of the recording studio with new compositions from Bloom's latest project that jetison the band into zero-g and beyond.
Don't miss these seasoned sonic explorers as they navigate the space ways.
Cornelia St Cafe 29 Cornelia St New York, ...
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Terrence McManus/Mark Helias/Gerry Hemingway at The Stone (NYC) on January 1
Source:
All About Jazz
Scott Tinkler/Mark Helias Duo in NYC on September 28th
Source:
All About Jazz
Sunday, September 28th at 5pm To open the new concert season at Hudson View Gardens (HVG) under the shiny new moniker Sunday Concerts at The Lounge, and making a rare appearance in New York, we have one of Down Under's foremost highly regarded jazz trumpeters--Scott Tinkler. The Aussie has played with Joe Lovano, Cindy Blackman and many others, including Downtown bass veteran Mark Helias (who has played with groups of such jazz legends as Ed Blackwell and Dewey Redman). Tinkler ...
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A Month of Wednesdays at Barbes - May 2008
Source:
All About Jazz
Concerts every Wednesday in May, 2008. Two sets per evening, 8 & 10 pm. $10 cover Wednesday May 7, 2008 8pm William Parker/Mark Helias duo 10pm Duo Mark Helias/Tim Berne A Month of Wednesdays at Barbes 376 9th St Brooklyn, NY 11215 718-965-9177 Sets at 8 & 10 pm $10 Cover Wednesday May 14, 2008 Open Loose - Mark Helias, Tom Rainey and Tony Malaby 8 & 10 pm Wednesday May 21, 2008 8pm ...
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Jane Ira Bloom "Mental Weather" with Dawn Clement, Mark Helias, and Matt Wilson Now Available
Source:
All About Jazz
Award winning soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom has a new album on an old label. After thirty years Jane has returned to her original LP label that she began when she first started her career in New Haven, CT - Outline Records. Her electro-acoustic band brings together fellow 70's New Havenite Mark Helias on bass, drummer Matt Wilson, and Seattle new comer Dawn Clement on keyboards for Bloom's 13th and most recent recording. The band recorded Mental Weather after premiering ...
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Tony Malaby/Mark Helias (Fri) Jeremy Steig Trio (Sat) Sam Sadigursky's Word Project (Sun) & More This Weekend at Cornelia Street Cafe
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, New York 212-989-9319 between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, V, F to West 4th St. This Weekend At Cornelia Street Cafe Fri Sep 14 9:00PM & 10:30PM ONY MALABY/MARK HELIAS (Tony Malaby, saxophone;Mark Helias, bass) Sat Sep 15 9:00PM & 10:30PM JEREMY STEIG ...
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Composers Collaborative (Mon) Morrison Motel (Tue) Steve Northeast (Wed) Maria Guida (Thu) Tony Malaby/Mark Helias (Fri) & More This Week at Cornelia Street Cafe
Source:
All About Jazz
CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, New York 212-989-9319 between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, V, F to West 4th St. This Week At Cornelia Street Cafe Mon Sep 10 8:30PM COMPOSERS COLLABORATIVE: SERIAL UNDERGROUND Wed Sep 12 8:30PM STEVE NORTHEAST IN CONCERT Thu Sep 13 8:30PM GNU VOX: MARIA GUIDA Fri Sep ...
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Wolfgang Schalk Qt (Fri) Mark Helias's Trio Behear (Sat) John Fischer (Sun) & More This Weekend At Cornelia Street Cafe
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, New York212-989-9319 http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, V, F to West 4th St. This Weekend At Cornelia Street Cafe Fri Nov 17 9:00PM & 10:30PM WOLFGANG SCHALK QUARTET (Wolfgang Schalk, guitar, composition;Helen Sung, piano;Andy McKee, bass;Ian Froman, drums) Wolfgang Schalk has garnered international acclaim as a gifted ...
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Photos
Music
Break the Branch
From: Gordon Grdina's The Marrow with...By Mark Helias
Palimpsest
From: PathwaysBy Mark Helias
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