Mark Merella - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Mark Merella was born in Washington, D.C. in 1964. He's been involved in music for over 25 years playing styles ranging from Jazz and Rhythm & Blues to Afro-Cuban and the avant-garde. His versatility on both drum set and percussion have made him an in demand player for live, studio and educational settings. He began his professional career while still in high school playing summers at Wildworld theme park. He attended Musicians Institute in Los Angeles and graduated in 1983. Mark has worked with a variety of artists in the Jazz and Latin fields including saxophonists Paul Carr, Fred Foss, Rene McLean and Al Williams, vocalists Imani and Eva Cassidy, trumpeter Tom Williams and percussionist Steve Berrios co-founder of the Fort Apache Band. Mark has also worked with the groups Rumba Club, Mambo Combo, Ala Carte Brass & Percussion, Afro-Bop Alliance and the Windmill Saxophone Quartet. As part of Havana Select he played for Celia Cruz's induction into the Smithsonian and 1997's Black Music Conference in Chicago. Mark also performed with master bata drummer Julito Collazo as part of a symposiun on Afro-Cuban music in Washington, D.C. On the R&B circuit Mark has worked with The Flamingos, Bo Diddley, Phil Flowers and Mary Wilson of The Supremes. As a freelance musician Mark has played at many embassies, the White House and the Kennedy Center and also appears in the critically acclaimed film "Syriana". Mark was commissioned by the American Composers Forum to compose a piece for Jane Franklin Dance, which premiered March 1st, 2003. At Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. Mark performed with the Latin Jazz All Stars alongside Steve Turre, Ray Vega, Mario Rivera and Andy Gonzalez. In February 2007 Mark toured with the Duende Quartet as part of Jazz At Lincoln Center's Rhythm Road project and played concerts in Turkey, Cyprus and Eastern Europe.Currently Mark works with the groups Mosaic and Duende Quartet and is active as a ritual drummer (Omo Anya) within the Ifa'Orisha community.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/21/2006
Band Website: markmerella.com
Band Members: MOSAIC: Matt Belzer - alto & soprano saxophones, Ned Judy - piano, Larry Melton - bass, Mark Merella - drums & percussion, Ekendra Das - congas & percussionMANTRA: Jon Ozment - organ, electric piano & synth, Chuck Underwood - guitar, Mark Merella - drums, congas, timbales & percussionCARIBE SON: Paul Paleologos - trombone, arranger, Scott Young - tenor sax, Brad Clements - trumpet, Leo Garcia - piano, Erica Poindexter - bass, Rene Ibanez - congas, Willie Vazquez - bongos, Mark Merella - drums & timbales
Influences: Mark's DRUMMING INFLUENCES include: Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Louis Hayes, Al Foster, Bob Moses, Bill Stewart, Victor Lewis, Lenny White, Billy Hart, Don Alias, Steve Berrios, Willie Bobo, Jerry Gonzalez, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Milton Cardona, Julito Collazo, Mongo Santamaria, Pancho Quinto, Changuito, Zakir Hussein, Trilok Gurtu, Clyde Stubblefield, John "Jabo" Starks, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, John Bonham, Bill Bruford and many others.OTHER MUSIC INFLUENCES are: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Thelonius Monk, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Woody Shaw, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, Fort Apache Band, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Al Green, early hip-hop (Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, etc.) Los Munequitos de Mantanzas, Arsenio Rodriguez, Ritmo Oriental, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Keith Jarrett, Tom Waits, Bela Bartok, Alban Berg, Gustav Mahler, Igor Stravinsky, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Samuel Barber, Morton Feldman, Karlheinz Stockhausen (electronic works), Gyorgy Ligeti and many others.Some INFLUENCES OUTSIDE OF MUSIC would be: Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, John Fante, Henry Miller, Alan Watts (especially his recorded lectures), D.T. Suzuki, Krishnamurti, Robert Farris Thompson, James Joyce, Louis Ferdinand Celine, Philip Roth, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurasawa, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollack, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep, Sugar Ray Leonard, Alexis Arguello and many, many others.
Sounds Like: The sound files on this page are from three different projects that I've been a part of: MOSAIC (one of my current projects) www.snackrecords.com, the electric jazz trio MANTRA www.mantrajazz.com and the Latin Jazz group CARIBE SON. Here's a video of DUENDE QUARTET an ensemble I'm currently working with that recently toured Turkey, Cyprus and Eastern EuropeThe Duende Quartet

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Record Label: Snack Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Interview with Steve Berrios

Interview with master drummer, Latin Jazz innovator and 1996 Grammy nominee Steve Berrios You are invited to read an interview I had the pleasure of conducting with maste...
Posted by Mark Merella on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:59:00 PST

On The Road With The Flamingos

Please visit this link at AllAboutJazz.com to view this article http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=27325...
Posted by Mark Merella on Wed, 23 May 2007 08:00:00 PST

On Drumming and Boxing

Please visit this link at AllAboutJazz.com to view this article http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=22528...
Posted by Mark Merella on Fri, 27 Oct 2006 08:48:00 PST

Snapshot Of West Angeleno

It was a one room apartment, yet stood alone, on the second floor above a storage room. Beige, stucco, surrounded by asphalt, warped wooden steps with green peeling paint. Once inside, a small ...
Posted by Mark Merella on Wed, 23 May 2007 08:09:00 PST