BREAKING NEWS-
The Mark Swetman Quartet has released the long awaited
Remembering John Coltrane CD!
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Inner Urge:
Drummer Mark Sweetman pursues a spiritual quest.
By Yonah Korngold His sound is raw and drenched with emotion.
With this spirit, Mark Sweetman carries the torch passed to him
from the days when John Coltrane redirected his life on a spiritual
quest after quitting heroin cold turkey by locking himself in his
room on N. 33rd Street with nothing
but cigarettes and water.
Since these days
the number of jazz musicians
that truly understand what it means to be a jazz
musician is growing scarcer than mice in a cat
pound. Refreshingly, Mark Sweetman,
the Canadian-borndrummer, has yet to divert from
the spiritually enriched sound, soul and life that
he discovered inhis childhood.
Born in Toronto,
Sweetman recalls a vibrant jazz
scene where he would spend night after night in the
back of a jazz club called Bourbon St., sipping on ice
water, soaking up the energy and melting away with
the vibrant sound. There he witnessed tremendous
acts like Bill Evans and Chet Baker who taught him
what it meant to play with everything from the inside
out. Perhaps his greatest influence came while witnessing
guitarist Sonny Greenwich roar deep with a
tone no other guitarist can duplicate.
In Sweetman,
there is a lot of Greenwich. It is apparent in
his spir-itualmission and the joy and intensity that surround
his music. Yet Greenwich was not the
only power that awak-ened Sweetman's musical sense.
There was also Sweetman's drum teacher whom
he paired up with in Toronto when he was 18.
Sweetman describes how
his teacher was, “totally into Coltrane, Elvin, Miles,
and Tony Williams.” It is in these drum lessons that
Sweetman was taught more than just drums but “life
class” where lessons about jazz theory soon became
“life lessons.” In these pivotal moments Sweetman
learned that the first rule of music was to never be
afraid of producing one's own sound.
Sweetman followed this jazz guru
on the road to Philadelphia where he spent years
building up the spiritual sound inside of him that finally unleashed
itself in 1997 with his debut album, Inspire d. As the
title emphasizes, the seven tracks on the album are
products of years of built up
musical stimulation.
“The urgency
to put out my own music was so
great that I didn't have a choice,” says Sweetman. “I
had spirituality in there that needed to get out for years.”
With a line up that includes such talents as Ralph
Bowen, Dan Klienman and Mike Boone, The Mark
Sweetman Quartet is full of intensity representing a
music that will take control of the mind and body as
it continues to push deeper into more mystical
depths. Ralph Bowen, “the man” as Sweetman refers to
him, takes Coltrane's legacy into his own saxophone
and gives the group its sparking electricity. A fellow
Canadian, the two had met in the Toronto days when
Ralph Bowen played with the son of Sweetman's
drum teacher.
On a mission to record this vibrant
sound, Sweetman went to go see Ralph at Ortlieb's
Jazzhaus and recruited him in his musical quest.
The deep natural sound of the group comes from
Mike Boone who unselfishly plays the bass while Dan
Kleinman floats around on the piano adding a sense
of joy into the soulfully deep music.
On the Quartet's second album, All Paths Lead To One,
one can hear a more relaxed and joyfully settled
musical experience. From the get go the album is
incarnated with a mysterious Indian drone in which
the drums and bass build off of which climaxes when
Ralph Bowen explodes on the sax.
“I've always loved
the drone in Indian music and
always wanted to play off of it,” says Sweetman.
“Some of my music comes from years of falling
asleep listening to jazz albums. Some just came from
walking around in Europe. When I was in Italy I
heard bells ringing and than a car horn went by and
with my rhythmical sense I put the two together. And
then sometimes I don't know where it comes from
nor do I ask.”For these reasons The Mark Sweetman Quartet
remains unique in a music business where things
aren't always what they seem.
Unusually quiet in the
public scene, Sweetman remains an underground
secret who is completely content with the life he leads
and the music he has produced.
“I think one can identify with it [the music] and
when they do they identify very deeply.”
It is this rawness of sound that got the attention of Patti LaBelle.
“The interesting thing was that he [LaBelle's manager]
understood the thread of spirituality in which
Patti LaBelle appeals to in her audience and recognized
that they in turn would get in my music.”
This understanding led to the Sweetman Quartet
opening for Patti LaBelle at The Westbury Music
Fair. In this experience Sweetman recalled how Patti
LaBelle's musicians all were enthusiastic and a bit
jealous with the easy going and free attitude that the
Quartet has adopted as their philosophy.
In the upcoming months the quartet plans to
rejoin LaBelle in Jamaica along with a return to the
studio to record a Coltrane tribute album.
“The thing about Coltrane and spirituality is
something that pretty much has disappeared now
except for a few of us who do our thing.
“We are not going to copy Coltrane; we are men of
this era who happen to love Coltrane.”
Like Coltrane, when recording, Sweetman believes
that the band should play together in one room and
not hidden behind layers of equipment behind stu-dio walls.
In this sense there is no doubt that Sweetman will
be able to capture Coltrane's intensity and also be
able to give the music a personal element that will
speak to the group's modern uniqueness.
ALL ABOUT JAZZ REVIEW: 11.2002
All Paths Lead to OneMark Sweetman QuartetAll paths lead to one;
all roads lead to home. For drummer/composer Mark Sweetman, home is the East Coast of the United States, but the road that lead him here began in Canada, where he was born in 1960. Sweetman says that his hometown of Toronto was "a jazz Mecca when I was growing up. In the midst of this incredibly beautiful environment, there was this jazz club called Bourbon Street, where all the best acts in the world would come - Art Pepper, Lee Konitz, Bill Evans, Chet Baker. I used to go down three or four times a week, and just live it." While Mark was soaking up the jazz life, he got exposed to a side of music that was less about chord changes and technique,and more about feeling and spirituality.
''I got introduced to Sonny Greenwich, who was basically John Coltrane on guitar, as well as Tisziji Munoz, a kind of disciple of his. They were playing music that went outside and was so intense, so spiritual, that just hit it on the head for me. I loved the music of the older guys, but I'm not a bebopper - I'm more about the color, and texture."
Mark's muse led him to gather the musicians heard on his 1997 debut as a leader, Inspired. Significantly, these same musicians, with the exception of trumpeter John Swana, appear here, bringing contributions that are, if anything more focused and robust than on that impressive debut. "These guys play from their hearts," extols Sweetman. "They're connected to their instruments. Mike Boone has a way of caressing his bass; he comes form a kind of Dave Holland approach, where he doesn't overplay. Ralph Bowen is magnificent - I think he is one of the most underrated sax players around. And some of the things pianist Dan Kleiman does - he just really vibes in to what is needed: he's not playing licks, he's playing sounds, and colors, that keep the music elevated." John Swana is one of the most in-demand trumpet players on the scene right now, and his parts were specially conceived for several tracks here. "John was a joy to work with ; I had caught his vibration around town, and I thought, 'I like this guy, he's part of his instrument.'"
Fitting, because the music these men play here is tremendously organic: The title track anchored by a low drone reminiscent of the chanting of Buddhist monks, establishes a rhythm like that of breathing-in, out, letting air nourish the soul, the mind, and the body. It sidles into its groove with the sexily insinuating charm of a new lover, Bowen's brawny tenor tracing it's contours with a bold, yet sensitive, hand. "Can a Brother get a Ride" is Soul-Jazz cruising down two-lane blacktop, its motoric groove stoked by Boone's R&B-ish bass ostinato.
The tense bass solo that opens "Awakening" heralds a circuitous melodic theme, reminding us that rebirth into awareness often comes after much searching; John Swana's expert trumpet solo is a virtual essay in how the Jazz language, born in swing meter, now encompasses an emotional range that can easily be referred to as devotional. "Inner Meditation" is Sweetman alone at the drums, in perfect distillation of the idea of tranquility at the heart of heated activity. Sweetman: "For me, the cymbal sounds are like the sky, the bass drum is like the heart of the earth, and the drums themselves are the mountains. When the tranquil center within the tumult is found, and maintained, the result is 'Exaltation.'" "This is That:" there is nothing without it's opposite, no peace without turmoil, no calm without storm. This cyclonic quality is found in tracks like "Awakening," where the quietly escalating melody sits atop Sweetman's roiling drum work, and Kleiman's dramatically pumping pianistics. It's found in the richly-burnished post-bop of "Nothing Seems As It Is:" which is stoked by Sweetman's urgent rumbles, and Bowen's set-the-controls-for-the-heart-of-the-sun tenor saxophone. The tender ballad, "Cole," was named after Sweetman's two year-old son. Bowen essays the heartfelt composition with rapturous sensitivity. In a truly "Out of the mouths of babes" moment Cole Sweetman also provided the title for "This is That." "It was one of the first things out of my son's mouth," says Sweetman, who immediately began to formulated the three-note melodic kernel around which the tune is based.
All Paths Lead to One: There is tremendous comfort in this music, a comfort that bespeaks the presence of strength, of a force that is capable of instilling innerpeace, because one senses that it has withstood the rigors of battle. "The pure love and heart," is what Sweetman calls the One. It is now up to you, the lucky listener, to find your own definition, your own path,
in this extraordinary music.
-Larry Nai Cadence Magazine & Jazzis Magazine
Inspired Mark Sweetman Quartet"I really dug the CD it was really heartfelt."
- Dave Liebman"This is powerful, exhilarating music."
- Larry Nai"The Trane Legacy gets an indirect tribute on Inspired,
a disc that is most aptly named. Inspired has heavy echoes of the classic Coltrane Quartet as filtered through such later developments as Keith Jarrett's American and European quartets, Billy Harper's various groups, and Dave Liebman's Lookout Farm band. Yes, Ralph Bowen may remind you of Trane, and Dan Liebman's Lookout Farm band. Yes, Ralph Bowen may remind you of Trane, and Dan Kleiman has traces of Tyner, but this is not faceless cloning. This is powerful, sometimes exhilarating music, performed by a group with an almost palpable sense of purpose. Like Sweetman's striking Scottish landscape photos that adorn the booklet, light and shadow are balanced beautifully; common-place shapes resonate with an air of mystery. Bowen's big tone is positioned in the mix like a watchtower that draws the other instruments around it; fans of passionate tenor in the vein of Trane, Barbieri, and Perelman will find much to enjoy in his playing here. Kleiman, who's done time with Ernie Watts and Mike Stern, draws on influences as diverse as Keith/Herbie/Bill, as well as Cecil Taylor and, lest my ears deceive me, George Winston. He lends a mellifluous lyricism to the leader's sharply-written tunes, most of which are in the eight to twelve-minute range; all of them easily justify their lengths. Mike Boone, a bassist who has worked with Buddy Rich and Joe Henderson, listens closely and knits his mates into a tightelaborate weave. Sweetman's drumming is marked by a great feel for dynamics, plus a willingness to hang back and listen, as well as explode. If compelling, emotionally-direct music inthe tradition of those mentioned above appeals to you,
you owe it to yourself to check this one out."
- Larry Nai/ Cadence Magazine & Jazzis Magazine
*For more information, CDs or for bookings contact
Mark Sweetman at Markmuse@aol.com or
North Country Distributors .
