Mark Shim

Biography
Articles

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, saxophonist Mark Shim moved to Canada then later settled in Richmond, Virginia. He started on saxophone in seventh grade, graduating from high school in 1991 and attending Virginia Commonwealth University and William Paterson College. In 1994 he moved to Brooklyn, where he played and recorded with Hamiett Bluiett in Harlem. He then played with Mose Allison, Betty Carter, Greg Osby, and the Mingus Big Band.

Shim's debut recording Mind Over Matter (Blue Note, 1998) was followed by New Directions , a young group project, that included Osby, Jason Moran, and Stefon Harris and then his second recording as a leader, the outstanding Turbulent Flow, both released on Blue Note in 2000.

With a unique deep timbre and chops that range from swinging bop, uncut funk, to avant-garde, Shim continues to perform, record, and tour with artists such as Delfeayo Marsalis, Carmen Lundy, The Headhunters, Michele Rosewoman, Liberty Ellman, and Steve Lehman.

Patricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch

Read "Breaking Stretch" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 7, 2024

On her first two albums, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan worked with a quartet comprised of three percussion instruments, herself on vibes and marimba, joined by percussionist Mauricio Herrera and drummer Marcus Gilmore, with a bassist Kim Cass. Momentum in large part, is the name of the game. For Breaking Stretch she expands her musical universe, adding trumpeter Adam O'Farrill and saxophonists Mark Shim and Jon Irabagon. This proved a good move; her musical universe in this septet setting has an energy ...

Album Review

Patricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch

Read "Breaking Stretch" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
August 30, 2024

Wild-willed vibraphonist Patricia Brennan gets straight down to business without any fanciful mission declaration with the Afro-Cuban, effusively powered, clear-the-dancefloor and blow-the-ceiling-off this joint “Los Otros Yo (The Other Selves)," the opening cut of her third album Breaking Stretch. She does so in a captivatingly, wickedly good way. Brennan--who has added much vitality to music by such other big thinkers as Vijay Iyer, Mary Halvorson, Anna Webber, Michael Formanek--began her musical education at 4 years old listening to ...

Album Review

Travis Reuter: Quintet Music

Read "Quintet Music" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
June 8, 2024

Released as the long-anticipated encore to his avant-garde debut, Rotational Templates (New Focus, 2011), Travis Reuter's Quintet Music is a masterpiece of musical sorcery, brimming with bold invention and innovative creativity. Reuter, a maverick guitarist who is unafraid to color outside the lines, leads his band of equally audacious virtuosos through a sonic wonderland that most musicians only dare to visit in dreams. The quintet, with Peter Schlamb swapping the traditional piano for the vibraphone, tosses the jazz ...

Album Review

Ben Sidran: Don't Cry for No Hipster

Read "Don't Cry for No Hipster" reviewed by Luca Muchetti

by Luca Muchetti
March 14, 2014

'Stile' è il primo sostantivo che viene facile utilizzare per descrivere la musica di Ben Sidran. Nome notissimo nella scena americana, cantante, pianista, compositore e fine conoscitore della musica in toto (evitiamo di utilizzare l'etichetta 'jazz' memori anche del non troppo lontano album in tributo a Bob Dylan), con Don't Cry for no Hipster Sidran torna alle atmosfere fumose a lui più care: quattordici canzoni, tante, trovano spazio in un'opera che guarda alla tradizione, intimismi da jazz club e puntate ...

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Album Review

Mark Shim: Turbulent Flow

by Mark Corroto
April 1, 2000

At 26, saxophonist Mark Shim is living a dream life. Born in Jamaica, he moved to the US at age five. As a young man he was ‘discovered’ by baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett. He was soon a member of The David Murray Big Band, Betty Carter’s band, and the Mingus Big Band. His first recording, Mind Over Matter paired our hero with jazz punk guitarist Dave Fiuczynski. His toying with jazz tradition earned critical acclaim and a spot in the ...

Album Review

Mark Shim: Turbulent Flow

by Jim Santella
January 1, 2000

Mark Shim’s modern mainstream quintet consists of first-rate artists who possess the technical skills necessary for fast-paced improvisation. This is not a swinging session; the arrangements are intended to push hard and provide the listener with a mood of intensity. The rambling nature allows each artist his solo spots with the opportunity to pump a lot of notes into this hard bop formula. A young lion, Shim was born November 21, 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica. His parents moved to Canada ...

181

Album Review

Mark Shim: Mind Over Matter

by Jim Santella
March 1, 1998

When Mark Shim stands to take a solo with The Mingus Big Band, his youthful, clean-cut appearance comes in direct contrast to the deep, robust tone coming from his tenor saxophone. Drawn to tenor saxophone “players with a darker sound," as he states in the liner notes, Shim has made impressions on those with whom he's shared the stage, including Hamiett Bluiett, David Murray, and Betty Carter. Enlisting the support of pianist Geri Allen, bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Eric ...