Mark O'Leary

Mark O'Leary was born in Cork City Ireland.Being mainly auto didactic on guitar he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17 to study at Musicians Institute,from where he later graduated. He has presented his music in 29 countries and has played at some of the worlds top Jazz festivals and contemporary Jazz venues.

He has toured Europe as a member of Canadian Pianist Paul Bley's trio,he has performed in duo with Jack DeJohnette,in a jazz trio with Yes/King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, in duo with Han Bennink,composed and performed classical music with Cikada string quartet,collaborated in an all electronics setting with Sound Artist Gunter Muller, Erdem Helveciouglu and Jakob Riis,in a free improvisation combo with Evan Parker and Sunny Murray, performed in concerts with Anders Jormin and Audun Kleive, played Norwegian folk music with Nils Okland, Swedish folk music with Mats Eden, Jazz with Uri Caine, he has performed in seperate projects with trumpeters Axel Dorner,Kenny Wheeler, Thomas Heberer and Jeff Kaiser. He has the distinction of having played in duo with Paul Bley, Bobo Stenson and Matthew Shipp. In 2004 he toured Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro with Vasil Hadzimanov and Marco Djordevic. He also toured in Macedonia with Guitarist Toni Kitanovski and Drummer Alexander Sekhulovski. He also represented Ireland in the Athens European jazz festival.

He has also worked in a trio with ex Weather Report/Jaco Pastorius Drummer Peter Erskine and Palle Danielsson. He has also collaborated with the innovative percussionists z'ev, Alex Cline ,Hans Kristian Kjos Sorensen and Terje Isungset.He has also collaborated with Stale Storlokken in contemporary trio using church organ and with John Herndon of Tortoise in the Underground Jazz Trio.

Stoj by Mark Corroto
Labyrinth by Glenn Astarita

In the Artist's Own Words

Mark O'Leary: Plucking the Flower

Album Reviews

Ode To Albert Ayler by Glenn Astarita
St Fin Barre's by Glenn Astarita
The Synth Show by Kurt Gottschalk

Multiple Reviews

Album Reviews

Ellipses by Glenn Astarita
FLUX by Glenn Astarita
Shamanic Voices by Glenn Astarita
Zemlya by Glenn Astarita
Television by Glenn Astarita
Waiting by Robert Iannapollo
Signs by Glenn Astarita
Waiting by Glenn Astarita
Awakening by John Eyles
Levitation by Paul Olson
Chamber Trio by Glenn Astarita

April 19, 2009

Irish Guitarist Mark O'Leary, In His Own Words, at AAJ

June 02, 2008

Mark O'Leary "Ellipses" on FMR Records

For some time now, O'Leary has seemed likely to deliver a great album; here it is. John Eyles BBC website review Waiting

O'Leary is a superb acoustic player, as the opening track demonstrates,Waiting rvw John Fordham

Both O'Leary and Caine are highly sophisticated performers drawing on both jazz and contemporary-classical materials.There are tunes that duck and dive like Morricone themes for thrillers,Frisell like drifters,even unexpectedly lyrical guitar-ballad ruminations. O'Leary is a gathering force Closure rvw John Fordham, The Guardian

Each note glows like a glowing and wheeling like a firefly in the night sky, O'Leary achieves a fine tension between the mellifluous and the abstract

For some time now, O'Leary has seemed likely to deliver a great album; here it is. John Eyles BBC website review Waiting

O'Leary is a superb acoustic player, as the opening track demonstrates,Waiting rvw John Fordham

Each note glows like a glowing and wheeling like a firefly in the night sky, O'Leary achieves a fine tension between the mellifluous and the abstract. As self luminous progresses its petals unfold recalling Anton Von Webern's miniatures evanescent and everywhere at the same time - The Wire.

The thicket of melodic patterns, the incremental and sometimes glacial development, theres something especially powerful about it. Self Luminous **** Chamber trio **** Levitation ***½ - Downbeat magazine

With O'Leary and Stanko chomping at the bit from the off this is a heady treat from start to finish. It's a display never short of excitement and at times simply breathtaking - Jazz Review I have already praised Mark O'Leary before for his great sense of music, and he proves it again on this record, This is absolutely excellent music. Freejazz-Stef review On the Shore ***** I can’t remember a time over the past year that I was affected by a guitar player as much as the playing of Irish string-whiz Mark O’Leary The season of O’Leary is long upon us and “On The Shore” will stand as the cornerstone that pushes his music into un- chartered territories Tom Sekowski Gaz-Eta O’Leary’s duets and give and take with Stanko, as on the opening to “Astrakhan”, that make this session a stand out. O’Leary’s guitar style can vary between graceful and raw. He is able to spin out intricate webs of sound through both staccato notes, as on the decidedly angular “Oblique”, and interesting chordal voicings. He can also get a bit heavy with some searing lead work that he displays on the title cut and closer “Phase”. While each of these players are capable of leaving the other two in the dust, those moments don’t last long and somehow each is able to match the other. Elliot Simon AAJ 2006

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