Cd Launch: Mark Cherrie Quartet at 606 Club

With a career spanning over 30 years, Mark has worked as a keyboard player for many varied artists including Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, The Drifters and Paul Young. As well as playing, over the last 20 years Mark has also had a parallel career as a professional composer having over 500 published pieces of music used extensively in TV and film, including programmes such as Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ER and the Fresh Prince. However, as well as an accomplished composer and pianist Mark has followed in his father, pianist and steel pan player Ralph Cherrie's footsteps to also become one of the country's leading steel pan players. Introduced into the UK in the mid 1950's by another great 606 regular, the late Russ Henderson, the steel pan has become a staple instrument in schools and even in the concert hall. However, Mark has been concerned that the instrument is still regarded in many quarters as something of a "novelty", and so was inspired to record his latest CD, “Joining the Dots”, in order to feature the jazz steel pan in a variety of different, jazz based, settings. As he says "I decided to record a jazz album with musicians that are well known on the UK jazz circuit, where the music was deliberately not at all Caribbean. All the band tracks were recorded all together in the studio live room in one day.....I believe that there is no other album out there that attempts to cover the musical area that I have done with this one". And those musicians featured on the CD, John Donaldson-piano, Mick Hutton-bass and Eric Ford-drums will also be accompanying Mark's wonderfully fluent and inventive steel pan playing for the launch here at the Club. And just to help things along, Mark has invited a couple of special guests to join him on the stage this evening, the wonderful singer Chantelle Duncan and saxophonist Greg Heath. This promises to be a unique night of high quality music from an old friend of the Club and well worth booking for....

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With a career spanning over 30 years, Mark has worked as a keyboard player for many varied artists including Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, The Drifters and Paul Young. As well as playing, over the last 20 years Mark has also had a parallel career as a professional composer having over 500 published pieces of music used extensively in TV and film, including programmes such as Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ER and the Fresh Prince. However, as well as an accomplished composer and pianist Mark has followed in his father, pianist and steel pan player Ralph Cherrie's footsteps to also become one of the country's leading steel pan players. Introduced into the UK in the mid 1950's by another great 606 regular, the late Russ Henderson, the steel pan has become a staple instrument in schools and even in the concert hall. However, Mark has been concerned that the instrument is still regarded in many quarters as something of a "novelty", and so was inspired to record his latest CD, “Joining the Dots”, in order to feature the jazz steel pan in a variety of different, jazz based, settings. As he says "I decided to record a jazz album with musicians that are well known on the UK jazz circuit, where the music was deliberately not at all Caribbean. All the band tracks were recorded all together in the studio live room in one day.....I believe that there is no other album out there that attempts to cover the musical area that I have done with this one". And those musicians featured on the CD, John Donaldson-piano, Mick Hutton-bass and Eric Ford-drums will also be accompanying Mark's wonderfully fluent and inventive steel pan playing for the launch here at the Club. And just to help things along, Mark has invited a couple of special guests to join him on the stage this evening, the wonderful singer Chantelle Duncan and saxophonist Greg Heath. This promises to be a unique night of high quality music from an old friend of the Club and well worth booking for.

"A great musician in his own right and a great steel pannist" JazzFM

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