Mark Wade and his Trio Start a New Third Stream with their latest release "New Stages"

 

Mark Wade Trio- New Stages- Dot Time Records

The bassist Mark Wade is becoming more widely recognized as an important voice on his instrument. Originally born in Michigan and raised in New Jersey, Wade began his musical education at the age of fourteen. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at New York University in 1997. There Wade studied with the world class bassist/educator Mike Richmond, whose own experience spanned working with the likes of Stan Getz and Lee Konitz to Jack DeJohnette and Ravi Shankar. 

Wade’s playing was always following a dual path with skills allowing him to easily traverse playing bass in a classical orchestra or in a jazz trio or a big band setting. His classical skills brought him to be a longtime member of the Key West Symphony, The Orchestra of the Bronx Opera and the S.E.M./Janacek Czech Republic Philharmonic. His jazz skills have been seen as a member of the Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra and as a bandmate whose has worked with notable instrumentalists Gary Bartz, Jimmy Heath, Conrad Herwig and vocalists Stacey Kent and Peter Eldridge to name just a few. Wade has been on the faculty of the Lehigh University’s jazz program since 2017.

Mark Wade photo by Bill Heuberger

My exposure to Wade’s music started when I reviewed his sophomore release Moving Day from 2018. The trio dealt skillfully with such standards as “Autumn Leaves” and “Maiden Voyage” along with his own twist on Dizzy Gillespie’s classic with “Another Night in Tunisa” as well as his classically influenced composition “The Bells,” which was inspired by a small fragment of Debussy’s “La Mer.”  That album offered a lot of promise. His 2022 release True Stories used compositions inspired by Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Igor Stravinsky and received more attention from a wider audience for this musically talented bassist.

The latest album titled New Stages, was released in March on Dot Time records. This offering finds this creative bassist continuing his search; his quest to find a common ground between the structure of compelling classical music and the expansive freedom that the musical improvisation of jazz brings to music. The album has fifteen compositions by Wade and he is joined by his intuitive trio members, Tim Harrison on piano and Scott Neumann on drums. These guys have been playing together since 2013.

Wade acknowledges that his playing in classical orchestras has been the source of much of his compositional inspiration. The bassist starts off this album with his take on Debussy’s music, in this case the composer’s Children’s Corner Suite.  Opening with “The Good Doctor Gradus” the music erupts with speed, dynamism and propulsion.  Harrison’s piano takes on the almost frantic pianistic exercise, as Wade’s plucky bass keeps the music in pace and Neumann’s drum work accents the music with splashing cymbals and rolling toms. The music continues with “The Elephant’s Lullaby” a take on Debussy’s “Jimbo’s Lullaby.” The UK born Harrison, seems quite adept in his classical mode to piano here. Wade creates his own miniature lullaby. “The Shepherd Takes A Turn” opens with a booming, walking bass line by Wade, as the music introduces a feeling of  swing. Wade’s pizzicato resonates with fluidity and inventiveness. Harrison’s piano maintains the repeating melody in accompaniment. The original composition by Debussy ,“The Little Shepherd,” was said to represent a shepherd and his flute. Here Wade takes the more memorable repeating melody, opening it up with his own harmonic interpretations that make this one seem more cinematic than a children’s song. 

“Cakewalk” takes the strut-like, syncopated rhythm of the original and makes it jump and pulse with excitement. Wade’s fingers pluck the fretboard with a dervish intensity, as Neumann’s drum work adds dynamism. Harrison’s piano work seems to add a Monk-like change of timing in his improvisations that seem to make this one stand out.

The album continues with “Saga” taken from Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, the only concerto the composer wrote. Wade’s bass, Harrison’s piano and Neumann’s drum work matching notes synchronously.  Wade takes an extended pizzicato solo that is quite impressive, an extended improvised section that in the original piece was dedicated to the violin. The bassist modernizes this piece brilliantly with his trio to great effect.

“The Storm” is a take on Chopin’s turbulent D-minor prelude and the music creates the feel of being in a whirlwind, a tempest. Harrison plays with fearlessness and beauty. Wade’s double bass sings with a beautiful tone and hums with sonorousness. Neumann’s kit creates a tumultuous array of percussive effects.

“Idyll” comes from Maurice Drufle’s Requiem, which Wade and his trio plays this with devoted respect and solemness, while still maintaining a spaciousness that makes this music connect with the listener.

Wade creates a two-part suite that uses Joaquin’s flamenco guitar inspired Concierto de Aranjuez to create his “Iberia Part 1 and Part 2”.  This music has also inspired other jazz musicians in the past. Miles Davis and Gil Evans Sketches of Spain and Chick Corea’s Spain come to mind. Wade and his trio find their own interpretation of this Iberian inspired music, incorporating musical elements that come before them to make their own rendition ring true.

Wade’s “Lament” is a reimagination of Henryk Gorecki’s 1st movement of “Symphony Number 3.” The music was composed in 1976 and first played in 1977. It is a more modern source than the other music in this album. It has a lively repeating line driven by Harrison's piano and Wade's ostinato driven bass. The music offers a hopeful feel as Harrison’s piano creates austerity and hope. Neumann's cymbal and tom build up tension before Harrison's piano provides a easy, swinging release and then Wade is featured on a probing double bass solo that moves deftly against the music.  

The album includes with "Judgement "“Transition” and “At Rest” all inspired by Gabriel’s Faure’s Requiem. “Waltz and Variation” inspired by Chopin’s Waltz in A Flat and ends with “Jesu” which is inspired by Johan Bach’s chorale from Canata Jesu, Joy of Men’s Desiring .

No matter if you are a classical music follower or not, Mark Wade and his trio somehow reimagine this music and instill in it a new vitality. These talented musicians play the music with an inherent respect, and they make it more reachable by adding creative improvisational elements and rhythmic variation to the architecture of these classical gemstones. Wade’s approach on his New Stages  is  his own version of this eras new Third Stream.

The Bassist Mark Wade & Trio : "Moving Day"

The bassist Mark Wade is a new name to me, but after hearing the warm booming sound of his bass on his sophomore album Moving Day, be assured I will follow his career more closely. In a world that has so many accomplished musicians it is often difficult to separate yourself from your peers. To have a voice that is all your own is important, but just as important is that indefinable quality that allows you to magically make a connection with your audience. Wade seems to have found that happy medium. He is an orchestral as well as a jazz player and teaches at the Jazz Studies program at Leigh University. His debut album Event Horizon from 2015 was well received.

On Moving Day Mark’s rich, burnished bass is complimented by his sensitive trio mates Tim Harrison on piano and Scott Neumann on drums. Together these three present seven of Wade’s compositions and two reimagined standards that simply delight and satisfy. By his own admission this album is less abstract and more personal than his last, drawing from his experiences.

The opening and title track “Moving Day” starts with a repeating piano motif over which Wade plays a moving melody. The composition captures the anxiety and anticipation of moving to a new place. Harrison’s piano has a light airy feel, dancing with hope, and Neumann’s splashing cymbals and rolling toms capture the organized chaos of moving. Wade’s fleet bass solo is agitated and full of excitement, but with an underlying sense of future promise. His articulation is so strong, clear and uplifting that even at its most boisterous you are carried away with its authenticity of feeling.

“Wide Open,” another Wade composition that utilizes a repeating motif, is a driving song that features odd meters, shifting rhythmic patterns and ascending piano lines. Harrison’s piano meanders over the changing time all the while building to an apex. Wade’s bass is featured on a percolating solo, while accentuated by the rolling tom and dashing cymbal work of Neumann, before once again ascending to the coda and a repeat of the original motif.

You can hear a bit of Wade’s classical leanings on “The Bells,” an interestingly impressionistic piece that integrates a melody fragment from Debussy’s “La Mer” (The Sea). Wade weaves the fragment into his own jazz rhythm with starts and stops that have their own internal dynamic. Opening with a declaratory piano intro, it then morphs into a more sauntering composition, with an ebullient walking bass line by Wade. Suddenly the tempo shifts and it’s like we enter a zone, an aural seascape made up of piano, bowed bass and cymbals with its own organic feel. The music becomes declarative, as Wade takes a deeply introspective and free sounding solo of placid serenity, before the group switches back again to a more defined tempo. Harrison’s piano is relentless, like a sea surge in his repeated motif at the close.

Where Wade seems to shine is his reimagining of songs from the canon. On his “Another Night in Tunisia,” a play on Dizzy Gillespie’s famous composition, he and his trio are not content to swing it in straight four time, but wind up finding ways to cut it up with multiple variations that often involve changing tempos that they execute flawlessly.

Wade puts a similarly interesting twist to the standard “Autumn Leaves,” which he cleverly juxtaposes with Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage" to great effect. The bassist effectively bends and slides his strings creating controlled deep glissandos of sound that are quite impressive. Harrison’s piano has a crystalline shimmer to it.

Wade’s other compositions include a ballad about the promise and excitement of budding love affair “Something of a Romance;” the evocative “Midnight in the Cathedral,” a musical, third stream stroll through a Cathedral at night where we are given a chance to listen to Wade’s concept of the universality of music from the medieval to the modern; and the lively New Orlean’s inspired march “The Quarter,” with its bouncy drum cadence by Neumann and Wade’s buoyant bass lines.

The closing composition is titled “The Fading Rays of Sunlight” and is the perfect way to end this impressive and enjoyable album. Wade and Harrison play an ascending melody line like the last shimmering rays of a setting sun, luminous and warm. Neumann offers a steady but subdued rhythmic sway as Harrison plays an uplifting solo that finds him at his most lyrical. Wade’s final bass solo is nimble, joyous and brimming with possibilities. It’s as if the fading rays of today’s sunset give promise to   tomorrows’ anticipated sun rise. The light dims, and the colors deepen in tone and majesty, but the promise of a return is implicit. The group ends in a triumvirate of satisfied calm.