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.
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Album Review
In the Artist's Own Words
Album Review
- Ode To Albert Ayler by Glenn Astarita
- St Fin Barre's by Glenn Astarita
- The Synth Show by Kurt Gottschalk
Multiple Reviews
Album Review
Read more articlesO'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
Photos
Albums
Waves
From: Waves IIIBy Mark O'Leary
Theme From Waiting
From: Live In IstanbulBy Mark O'Leary
Obsession
From: SnowBy Mark O'Leary