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Mark O'Leary / Peter Friis-Nielsen / Stefan Pasborg: Stoj

By Mark Corroto

In the aptly named Guerilla Series, for Ayler Records, this trio does, indeed, fight a “little war," recording this limited release (400 copies) as a hit-and-run ambush of destruction and noise. Støj is quite surprising for O'Leary, whose previous outings found him detailing more muted sounds with the likes of Supersilent on St. Fin Barre's (Leo, 2009), Tomasz Stanko on Levitation (Leo, 2005), and Cuong Vu on Waiting (Leo, 2007). Here, the Irish guitarist teams with the ...

Mark O'Leary / Matthew Shipp: Labyrinth

By Glenn Astarita

Like impressionist painters, guitarist Mark O'Leary and pianist Matthew Shipp execute a colorific sequence of abstracts, consisting of semi-structured theme-building developments and free-form dialogues. With blitzing firepower, the duo also fuses nuance and temperance into the big picture. They dish out linear, micro-motifs amid subtle shadings, and fragmented exchanges, but O'Leary ups the ante during several movements via his dark-toned, breakneck single note licks.

Shipp's flickering progressions and rhythmically inclined block chords offer a fertile underpinning throughout. They ...

Mark O'Leary: Plucking the Flower

By Eyal Hareuveni

Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary emerged on the global improvised music scene in the last few years, pushing his bold vision and broad scope of musicality through constantly-changing collaborations. O'Leary can cross easily between genres, from progressive, synth-laden rock and seventies fusion to free jazz and abstract soundscapes. The guitarist's encyclopedic interests and remarkable prolificacy are amongst the many subjects he covers in this latest installment of In The Artist's Own Words. Chapter Index Beginning ...

Mark O'Leary & Sunny Murray: Ode To Albert Ayler

By Glenn Astarita

The digital download-only Ode To Albert Ayler captures gifted Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary improvising with free-jazz and former Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor drummer Sunny Murray during a 2002 studio session. Here, O'Leary delves into free-form jazz shaded music at the onset of his recording career, prior to his extensive recording projects for Leo Records and other European record labels.

O'Leary gels into various frenzies amid Murray's textural drumming, where the artists perform within the spirit ...

Mark O'Leary: St Fin Barre's

By Glenn Astarita

This trio outing, recorded live with no rehearsals at St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork City, Ireland, would signify a new chapter in Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary's rapidly expanding discography. However, the session took place in 2002 featuring Norwegian keyboardist Stale Storlokken performing on church organ and drummer/percussionist Stein Inge Braekhus. On a side note, the session offers an absolute contrast to the guitarist's striking, free-jazz/fusion 2008 FMR release with Storlokken and drummer John Herndon, Ellipse.

The cathedral acts ...

Mark O'Leary / Kenny Wollensen / Jamie Saft: The Synth Show

By Kurt Gottschalk

Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary has built a nice relationship with Leo Records over the last few years, having recorded for the label with Mat Maneri, Matthew Shipp, Eyvind Kang, Uri Caine, Steve Swallow and others. O'Leary seems to favor the trio setting and enjoys throwing himself into new contexts. His ninth Leo release, The Synth Show, with Kenny Wollesen on percussion and Jamie Saft on synthesizer, may be his most surprising outing yet. Saft and Wollesen are ...

Mark O'Leary: Flux and Shamanic Voices

By Eyal Hareuveni

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 ...