Mark Harris's High 5

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

Mark Harris, Sydney double bass player and composer is truly versatile.

After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music (Jazz-Honours), Mark joined the formative Mark Isaacs Trio performing regularly at major Jazz festivals and Sydney Jazz clubs. Mark’s arrangement of Massenet’s Va! Laisse Couler mes Larmes was recorded by the Mark Isaacs trio for the ABC TV series The Pulse. While studying at the Conservatorium, Mark discovered a love of opera, even dabbling in singing for a short time. His later Master of Music (Jazz) programme reflected this newfound passion with a series of work that drew its inspiration from the harmonies and melodies of the French Impressionist composers. Of course the only thing left to do was to move to Paris, so Mark and his opera-singing wife Tina packed up everything they could and left for the land of wine and song. In Paris, Mark joined the infamous Chris Cody of Chris Cody Coalition fame - a true Francophile - and performed as a regular at Les Sept Lezards Jazz Club. Mark also worked with ex-pat New York saxophonist Steve Potts. From Paris to Tokyo, Mark followed his passion for good things residing in Chiba, where he met fellow Australian Sean Wayland and performed at the B Flat Club in Tokyo and the Bayside Jazz Club in Chiba.

With the help of the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, Mark joined again with Mark Isaacs to perform a duo concert for the governor at his residence for a special concert – Jazz on a Summer’s Day. On returning to Sydney, Mark joined forces with the James Morrison Sextet, performing regularly at Jazz festivals including the Bellingen Jazz and Blues Festival and the Noosa Jazz Festival.

In 2005 Mark joined the widely heralded triple ARIA award winning ‘Gyp-rock’ band Monsieur Camembert as bassist and vocalist, performing gigs across Australia and overseas. In July 2007 they released Famous Blue Cheese a double album of Leonard Cohen works. In 2008 they were special guests at the International Leonard Cohen Festival in Canada. The Tango Saloon, a group where Tango meets Spaghetti Western, led by guitarist Julian Curwin is another of Mark’s projects. In 2008 they released their second album Transylvania.

Mark’s debut solo album Entrée with his accomplished band Mark4 was released to critical acclaim by Jazzgroove Records in May 2005. In May 2006 Mark recorded an album with the Stephan Schafer Quartet. Time Travel was released on the Jazzhead label. As an educator Mark teaches both electric and double bass at Sydney Grammar School where he has been a tutor for over 10 years. Mark has worked extensively with Musica Viva in their educational schools program, touring both locally and interstate. He currently designs in-school educational programs with Monsieur Camembert, bringing leading musicians into schools for workshops and master classes.

Mark feels passionately that music is for everyone, from those 100 years old to 0 years old. Giving the gift of music is giving the best gift of all.

1. BRAD MEHLDAU TRIO—Blue Note, Tokyo 2002

Ever since Sydney pianist Greg Coffin recommended I listen to Brad in the late 90’s, I have been a huge fan. I had steadfastly been collecting The Art of the Trio series as they were released and by the time I reached Tokyo in July 2001 I counted Vol. 4 as one of my desert island discs. When I saw that the trio were touring to Japan, there was no way I was going to miss it. So I swallowed the $120 ticket fee for a single set for my wife and myself and headed to the Blue Note. Firstly, what a club! My advice to any jazz aficionado would be to make a bee line for it if you happen to be in the Land Of The Rising Sun, and blow the cost!

Well the trio, live, more than lived up to the recordings. It was the original trio, while Jorge Rossy was still drumming, and I would have been two feet from him (and a mere 5 feet from the others). The seemingly telepathic communication between the players was startling. One ballad they played must have been sub 40 bpm and regardless of the lyrical elasticity Brad applies to his melodic line, the ensemble grooved as one never showing the slightest hint of looseness.

I managed to get backstage after the set and meet the guys, by spinning a yarn that I was mates with bassist Matt Penman—do whatever you can I say—and the guys were lovely! I was still quite young then and this gig was a moment that turned my approach around. Right after this gig I went back to my flat in the country town Goi and began writing the material for my quartet album, Mark4 – Entrée – which was released in 2005.

2. DAVE HOLLAND QUINTET—Sydney Opera House 2008

As a composer / bass player myself, Dave Holland has always been a shining beacon of what is possible. I’m currently in the final throes of my Masters degree at the Sydney Con. And have spent the last year looking at Dave’s compositions from his Quintet album ‘Prime Directive’.

To see the band (albeit with a slightly different line-up) live and performing a few of the works I had been studying was an enormous boost to my research. Even without speaking to Dave I was able to see on the live show some of the concepts I had been toying with. One of these is the idea that Dave writes not just for a quintet but for his quintet. Not just a quintet of extraordinary technicians but for a quintet of extraordinary characters. He seems to write their improvisational style into the works so it could be confusing to know when composition ends and solos begin.

While the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall is pretty much the opposite acoustic to that in which this ensemble would sound it’s best the sound engineers had, in my opinion, done a formidable job to ensure there was enough clarity between voices so as to avoid the soup that is so often heard from jazz ensembles there.

3. JOHN SCOFIELD TRIO—Umbria Jazz Festival, Melbourne. Hamer Hall 2007(?)

I had bought the John Scofield Trio’s album En Route a few months before I heard about the trio coming to the Umbria Jazz Festival in Melbourne as a double header with Wayne Shorter’s group. As always with good trio recordings, I instantly fell in love with the close knit interaction between the band members, not to mention the general virtuosity of the musicians, in particular drummer Bill Stewart. Not wanting to miss out on this incredible opportunity, I bit the bullet and bought the ticket and an airfare to Melbourne.

I wasn’t disappointed! Not only did I get to hear the live versions of that album’s material played by three guys who were simply having a great time with each other and the music, but I then went on to hear one of my strong influences, John Patitucci, play beautifully with a master—Wayne Shorter.

The fun at seeing Sco tearing it up with a smile on is face, and laughing at his equipment failures was enhanced by watching Bill Stewart fly around the kit and Steve Swallow with a most unusual posture and technique playing so melodically and grooooovily.

While the Wayne set wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, it did make for one incredibly inspiring evening of music that was given a heightened sense of grandeur considering I had jumped in my not-so-private jet to get there.

4. PETER ERSKINE TRIO—Duc Des Lombards, Paris 2001

My seven months in Paris remain a bit of a blur to be honest. I was young, heady, excited, scared and poor. My wife and I had headed over there for the adventure, she with a few auditions for companies (Tina was singing opera then) and me with no connections other than a handshake at the Side On with Chris Cody a few months prior.

Fortunately that handshake was firm, because after a couple of months Chris gave me a gig with his band ‘The Chris Cody Coalition’ at a tiny but very groovy little joint called ‘Les Sept Lezards’ (seven lizards) in the Marais district. As so frequently happens, this led to other gigs and eventually a semi-regular spot with saxophonist Steve Potts at the same venue.

I got wind one night that Peter Erskine was in town with his Paris trio and that if you could show you were a working musician the other clubs would give you a good deal to get in. Well I had been a big fan of Peter Erskine since my young ECM loving days at the Sydney Con. when I loved to feel the melancholy while listening to Peter’s ECM trio with the minimalist piano of John Taylor and warm acoustic sound of bassist Palle Danielsson.

So I showed up to the ‘Duc Des Lombards’ (Duke Of Lombard) in les halles carrying my GK400RB amp head under my arm as my ‘ID’ and the nice lady at the door let me in for free!

The gig was great, not minimal at all, but with the all rack mounted guitar effects sound of Nguyen Le (think Mike Stern) and typically French bass approach of Michel Benita. A highlight though was when the power went out mid set and we all sat in darkness listening to Peter and Michel play two out acoustically, a breath of fresh air.

Apart from getting snobbed off by Peter when I tapped him on the shoulder to give him my regards, he was fantastic and it was really a great gig in a great Parisian club.

5. LOW FIDELITY—Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, supporting JoLo, 2008

I went to the Opera House recently to see the ScoLo gig, excited at the prospect of hearing Matt Penman play finally, after using him for his name several years earlier (see review 1). I had no idea who the support was or indeed if there was even a support act. As the stage side doors opened though, I could see the unmistakable silhouettes of multiple double basses and I was instantly intrigued.

Sure enough, a range of Sydney’s distinguished youngest to more experienced bassists emerged. They were Cameron Undy, Phil Stack, Abel Cross and Steve Elphick. This was the line-up for that night (I understand it’s a bit fluid) of Low Fidelity, a new acoustic bass project held together by Cameron Undy, and which has some conceptual roots with new Berliner Clayton Thomas as I understand.

They launched into what was really a long piece that constituted a short set, which I never mind with support acts, especially when they are this good. The guys played beautifully but didn’t take themselves at all too seriously; for me a vital ingredient of successful performance. The work ranged from free jazz to sound experiment to arranged be-bop like lines. All executed with technical authority coated with lashings of good humour.

What really amazed me was the difference in sounds between the bassists, both their instruments and their playing. It really was quite striking from my point of view. By way of example, we have all come to expect that Phil has a huge driving tone but what surprised me was the equitable power coming from Cameron. No one questions his authority on the instrument, but the brute force he applied to the strings was very impressive.

As a bassist, who has been working in a largely non-improvisatory context for the past few years, it was a wake up call as to the depth of great creative bassists we have, both young and not so young, in this scene. And I think that Craig Scott deserves a mention here as a hugely supportive foster father of most of the younger ones if not the older too.

If you hear on the grape vine that Low Fidelity is playing, go check it out!