Mark Egan As We Speak CD

Atmospheric and serpentine, the two-disc As We Speak finds electric fretless bassist Mark Egan leading his trio through a series of enigmatic and propulsive original songs. An acolyte of the late great bassist Jaco Pastorious, Egan has a lithe touch on his instrument, and tracks such as the leadoff "Spirals" evince a hypnotic, fusion-esque aesthetic. Joining Egan here are the equally superb jazz giants guitarist John Abercrombie and drummer Danny Gottlieb. These are three technical dynamos as well as artists sensitive to creative group interplay. Cuts such as "Dream Sequence" showcase this as Abercrombie and Egan both lay down harmonic lines against each other allowing Gottlieb to fill in the background with organic cymbal flourishes and flickering drum patterns. Cinematic and expansive, As We Speak has a real spark of intimacy and is a truly engaging work. ~ Matt Collar

Mark Egan Super TrioAs We Speak features the trio in a highly creative setting."The next generation of great improvisers"-Herald TribuneFeaturing:John Abercrombie-GuitarDanny Gottlieb-DrumsEngineered by Jeff Ciampa and Mark EganMixed by Richard BrownsteinProduced by Mark EganMark Egan BioOne of the premier electric bassists of contemporary jazz, Mark Egan has distinguished himself as an in-demand session player, valued sideman and respected leader in his own right. His distinctive fretless bass sound has graced countless jazz and pop albums as well as award winning movie and television soundtracks. A charter member of the Pat Metheny Group, he has played on multi platinum-selling recordings by Sting, Arcadia and Joan Osborne and has also recorded with the likes of Roger Daltry, Sophie B. Hawkins, Marianne Faithfull, David Sanborn and John McLaughlin and was a member of the Gil Evans Orchestra for 13 years. On his latest as a leader, the 2-CD set As We Speak, Egan stretches out in a wide open trio setting with jazz guitar great John Abercrombie and former Pat Metheny Group band mate and Elements co-founder Danny Gottlieb on drums. Recorded at his Electric Fields studio, Egan’s latest on his own Wavetone Records label is an ambitious follow up to 2001’s Freedom Town. As the bassist-composer and Wavetone label head put it, “Freedom Town was based more on my compositions and orchestrations featuring such great musicians as Bill Evans and Lew Soloff, in contrast to a bass trio improvisation feature, which is what this new recording is all about. I wanted to capture an intimate as well as progressive side of my playing on a recording.”Egan says that his concept for this trio with Abercrombie and Gottlieb was in part inspired by Gateway, Abercrombie’s acclaimed trio with drumming great Jack DeJohnette and renowned bassist Dave Holland. “When I started working on this project I was listening to the Gateway recordings and really tuned into that space from a compositional and conceptual point of view,” says Egan, who studied bass with Holland in the mid 1970s. “I’ve been a big fan of Dave’s since his days with Miles Davis and have closely followed his career since then, so it’s just natural that I’d listen to Gateway. I really like their concept and the openness of that group, so I started writing a lot of songs with that framework in mind to fit this trio.” Over the last four years, the in-demand bassist has been a regular member of jazz guitar great Larry Coryell’s trio, which includes drummer Paul Wertico. He appeared on Coryell’s 2003 recording Tricycles (on which Egan composed the title track). In 2004, Mark toured North America, Europe and Asia with another jazz guitar icon, Pat Martino, and last year recorded with saxophonist and Elements band mate Bill Evans on his 2005 Grammy-nominated Soulgrass album along with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. Egan also appeared on pop star Cyndi Lauper’s 2005 recording, The Body Acoustic. His playing on As We Speak represents a highwater mark in his recording career to da