interview with Mark Wade

Have any of you played in other bands?  I have been playing music professionally for over twenty years in New York City. I play a variety of jazz, classical, and commercial gigs as a sideman. My band, the Mark Wade Trio, performs my original jazz compositions.
How is it that you started playing music? This band played its first performance at Flushing Town Hall in New York back in 2013 but the three of us have been playing together in other bands for many years so we already had a good chemistry together.
What are your names? / Who plays what?
The band members are -
Tim Harrison on piano 
Mark Wade on bass
Scott Neumann on drums 
How old are you? I am 43.
Have you had other previous members? No. This band has always been just the three of us and that stability has given us the opportunity to develop a high level of musical understanding and trust between us.
Did you make music even when you were young? I started playing music later than most people. I started playing electric bass when I was 14 and was self taught until I went to college. I started playing the acoustic bass about halfway through my time at New York University. I came out of school making a living at playing the bass and have done so ever since.
Where are you from? I am originally from Livonia Michigan, but I have lived in a number of different places around the US before moving to New York City.
What's your style of genre? The band plays my original music which can best be described as modern or ‘New York’ jazz.
What inspires you? I listen to and play a wide variety of music across several genres, so I take inspiration from as many places as I can find. I do my best to keep my ears and my mind open to new sounds and new ideas as best I can. 
How often and where do you reherse? Being that all three members of the band are busy with many different gigs besides this band, we usually rehearse once before each gig. That’s typical of jazz bands here in NYC.
How have you developed since you started with the music? The musical language that we have developed as an ensemble has been a very rewarding thing for me. It has influenced my choices as a composer and allowed us to always try new things.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? I have a been working with a booking agency in Belgium to help establish my band in Europe and I just signed with a new agent for booking here in North America. I think it’s very helpful to have an agent as I am very busy playing for a lot of other projects and I don’t always have time to concentrate on booking my band.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? I released my first two albums myself in North America and released them in Europe on a label in Berlin called Edition 46. That’s been a good system for me so far.
What are your songs about? For my first album, I wrote music in the abstract. I gravitated towards musical ideas and sounds without any attachment to anything else. For my second album, I write music that was inspired by certain places and  experiences in my life. It was a different approach to composing and it yielded some different results that sent us in a new direction.
Who does the composing? I do all the writing for the band, but the other players always inject their particular style into the music to make it their own.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? I do all my writing at the piano. I think it’s important for me to not involve the bass too much in he writing process. 
Have you done any covers live? I have a few arrangements of standards that I have reworked to sound more like my original music. They are a few on both my albums and we play them live as well.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? Now that the bad has been together for five years, we have a wide repertoire to choose from when we play. I tend to favor playing the new material as I as always writing something for the band. 
Do you have a regular place you play live often? We play primarily in the NYC area right now, but we will be doing some touring in the spring. My booking agent is in the process of putting together some dates for us and we should have some dates to announce soon. You can check out www.markwademusicny.com for the latest details. 
Have you had to cancel a gig? I never like to cancel a gig and it’s something that I avoid as much as possible. I’ve never cancelled a gig with my band and very rarely have I cancelled when playing with someone else’s project.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Both of my albums ‘Moving Day’ and ‘Event Horizon’ are available at my website www.markwademusicny.com
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? It’s definitely not better for artists as we get paid a fraction of the money for our efforts. Streaming services like Spotify are great for listeners because it’s easy to hear lots of music and sometimes new people will discover my music that way. While that’s a positive, overall artists are unable to make money from record sales like they used to. 
What do you think of my work? I think that music journalist are very important to help artists like me to connect to new audiences. It’s great to have the support for sure.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? While it’s hard to know exactly how an interview will help, every time you can get exposure for your music through an interview you have a chance to advance your career. You never know who’s out there listening.
Do you have any role models or idols? I have many musical idols. My teacher Mike Richmond is a big influence on me. Also the music of Wayne Shorter and Miles Davis are influences on my writing. Lots of bass players have inspired me - Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Red Mitchell, Michael Moore to name a few.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Older musicians have a lot of wisdom and knowledge that are inspiring while new bands sometimes can preset some new creative ideas. Both are great sources.
What have been your biggest obstacles? Playing music at high level takes years of practice. Remaining focused on your craft over a long period of time is a tough thing to do, but it’s the only way to find success.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Always keep pushing to grow as an individual musician and as an ensemble. Perseverance is the key to everything.
How do you get psyched for a gig? I’m always excited to play music so I’m always psyched for the gig.
Do you have any new material? I’m always writing new material for the band. I usually add new videos on my YouTube page xxxx and my website www.markwademusicny.com

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