Our ongoing series profiling the musicians involved with the making of Infernal Machines continues with a focus on Mark Small, today's featured co-conspirator.
Like Josh, Jennifer, and myself, Mark studied at Boston's New England Conservatory (home to sax gurus Jerry Bergonzi and George Garzone) before moving to NYC in the early 2000s. He co-leads the band Bronze, in which he shares the front line with another young tenor demon, Walter Smith III. Mark has performed throughout the Northeast supporting artists such as Maynard Ferguson, Nat Adderley, Maceo Parker and others, and has appeared at numerous festivals including the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, the Jackie Robinson Jazz Festival, and the Berklee composers series (with Jim McNeely). Mark was a semifinalist in the 2002 Thelonious Monk saxophone competition. He has performed with Dick Oatts, John Mosca, Cladio Roditi, Joe LaBarbara, Ed Soph, Kenny Wheeler, Tiger Okoshi, Benny Golson, Chico O’Farrell, Harold Danko, and Bruce Barth, and -- in between Society gigs -- has spent the last two years touring the world with Warner Brothers recording artist Michael Bublé... and if you get a few beers in him he will regale you with some excellent road stories.
Mark's first hit with Secret Society was our appearance as the house band at the 2006 3 Quarks Daily ball at Flux Factory, which was a seriously fun gig, as we got to perform for a hip and artsy crowd of people in a partying mood who had mostly never heard of us. Mark's big feature is "Phobos," wherein his voice represents either the doomed moon of Mars or a bloody sacrifice to the Greek God of Fear. It depends on the night.
As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Mark's appearance on our debut album.
IMPORTANT: The deadline for sponsoring a musician (or becoming our Executive Producer) is February 15, 2009. However, you can continue to make individual donations (and have your name listed on our Thank You Page, if you wish) right up until the album is released in May. It is individual contributions from supporters of independent music that are making this recording possible, and we are grateful beyond words to all of our generous supporters.
PREVIOUSLY...
Laurie Frink
Rob Wilkerson
Matt Clohesy
Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist
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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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