Mark Soskin
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Mark Soskin was born July 12,1953 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Soskin has recorded and performed with such diverse musicians as Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Randy Brecker, Billy Cobham, Buster Williams, Eddie Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Herbie Mann, John Abercrombie, Claudio Roditi, Sheila Jordan, Gato Barbieri, Joe Locke, David”Fathead”Newman, Mark Murphy, Slide Hampton, Pete and Sheila Escovedo, Bobby Watson, The NY Voices and others.
Along with Pete’s daughter, percussionist Sheila.E, they toured and recorded as Azteca, a group in which Soskin’s keyboard,writing, and arranging talents were showcased. Eventually, the group, which now included Tom Harrell on trumpet, went on to record two discs for Fantasy Records, produced by drum ace Billy Cobham. Soskin was enlisted in Cobham’s band, a stint that lasted for two years and which produced two recordings for Columbia. In between tours for Cobham, Soskin did a tour and live recording for the CBS All Stars with Tom Scott, Alphonso Johnson, Steve Khan, and Billy Cobham. At this time Soskin was very active as a session player at Fantasy studios in Berkeley, California and veteran jazz music producer Orrin Keepnews took notice.
Recent
arranging projects include Soskin’s writing for Slide Hampton’s
“World Of Trombones”.Soskin was featured in a solo performance at the
1998 Ottawa Jazz Festival. He has performed the premier of contemporary
classical music composer John Adams’ opera, “Ceiling/Sky” at Lincoln
Center. Soskin is currently on the faculty of The Manhattan School Of
Music and has been written up in numerous music publications, including
Ira Gitler and Leonard Feather’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz and
The Jazz Book by Joachim E. Berendt. Mark Soskin is featured in the film
documenting latin jazz artists entitled”Calle 54”. |