Worth The Wait  (2010)

About Worth the Wait (Released September 22, 2010)

 

Worth the Wait, a straight-ahead-jazz trio album, brings two of the pieces on Mark’s 1999 solo piano CD Contemplation - That Place Where Nothing Matters, and The Lion - fresh, vibrant treatment.  The title track is a new composition and all of the pieces on WTW show Mark to be at home in every genre of music, not simply dabbling in jazz but blowing wide open with abandon.  Two alternate takes of the title track featuring completely different improvised lines from the pianist bear witness to this.

 

Titled as a personal nod to his own readiness to be back in the artistic arena after a long hiatus, the classic piano, bass, and drum album runs through a gamut of rhythms and melodies as Mark easily avoids regurgitating the ancient jazz cliches while maintaining a balanced understanding and respect for the jazz masters that he has spent his life studying and revering.

 

Worth the Wait showcases solid performances from all three members of the group with notable solos from bassist Shaun Jurek on That Place Where Nothing Matters and some very creative and sensitive playing offered by drummer Nate Panning at the end of The Lion.  There is an uncanny simpatico on Oneness between all three members as if the piece were entirely scored out. Arriving at this place in a progressive journey from the very beginning of the album however, it is a perfect culmination of all tracks heard and a welcome respite before the alternate title tracks take the listener back up into the stratosphere for another blissful ride with Mark at the helm.

 

With Worth the Wait, Mark has found appeal among jazz lovers everywhere because he simultaneously pushes beyond the status quo found in local jazz scenes while stepping up to the national arena with a fresh and unique voice.  If necessity is the mother of invention then being content with obscurity is the father of confidence in one’s inventions.

 

Album Tracks