Arranger / Leader
“Mark Masters...as an arranger and visionary has been well documented with an oeuvre of recordings.”
-Tim Hagans
Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster
Mark Masters Ensemble
2021
Music arranged by Mark Masters
Tracks:
All Too Soon, Duke's Place, I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good), A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing, What Am I Here For, Jack The Bear, Perdido, Passion Flower, Take The 'A' Train, Ko-Ko, Introduction To In A Mellotone and In A Mellotone
Personnel:
Kirsten Edkins, Jerry Pinter (tenor and soprano saxes), Danny House (alto saxophone and clarinet), Adam Schroeder (baritone saxophone), Scott Englebright, Les Lovitt, Ron Stout, Tim Hagens (trumpet), Les Benedict, Dave Woodley, Art Baron (trombone), Bruce Lett (bass), Mark Ferber (drums).
Blue Skylight
Mark Masters Ensemble
2017
Music arranged by Mark Masters
Tracks:
Monk Bunk and Vice Versa, Out Back of the Barn, So Long Eric, Wallflower, Peggy's Blue Skylight, Strayhorn 2, Duke Ellington's Sound of Love, Apple Core, Eclipse, Birds of a Feather, and Motel.
Personnel:
Gary Foster on alto sax, Jerry Pinter on tenor and soprano saxes, Gene Cipriano on tenor sax, Adam Schroeder on baritone sax, Ed Czach on piano, Putter Smith on bass, Kendall Kay on drums, with guests Ron Stout on trumpet and Les Benedict on trombone.
Everything You Did: The Music Of Walter Becker & David Fagen
Mark Masters Ensemble
2013
Music arranged by Mark Masters
Steely Dan, co-piloted by composer-instrumentalists Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, has made good, jazz-informed pop music for 40 years. Jazz orchestrator Mark Masters has taken some of the group’s obscure early tunes and turned a clutch of great soloists loose on his charts: Tim Hagans, Billy Harper, Oliver Lake, Gary Foster, Gary Smulyan and Sonny Simmons.
Ellington Saxophone Encounters
Mark Masters Ensemble featuring Gary Smulyan
2012
Music arranged by Mark Masters
Mark Masters is an accomplished arranger who comes up with hip, unusual ideas for jazz concerts and recordings, such as repertoire by Steely Dan and Dewey Redman. His new album contains compositions by Ellington’s saxophonists: Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Ben Webster and Harry Carney. All the tunes sound like they could have been written by Ellington, which is of course a compliment. Three list Duke as co-composer.
Farewell Walter Dewey Redman
Mark Masters Ensemble
2008
Music arranged by Mark Masters
Mark Masters is an accomplished arranger who comes up with hip, unusual ideas for jazz concerts and recordings, such as repertoire by Steely Dan and Dewey Redman. His new album contains compositions by Ellington’s saxophonists: Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Ben Webster and Harry Carney. All the tunes sound like they could have been written by Ellington, which is of course a compliment. Three list Duke as co-composer.
Wish Me Well
Mark Masters Ensemble
2006
Music arranged by Mark Masters
Tracks:
Tree Tops, Monk's Sphere, Weep, Kitch, Gary's Waltz, Tree Patterns, Summer Day, I Love to Say Her Name, Why Are You Blue, Chuggin, and Wish Me Well
Porgy & Bess Redefined
Mark Masters Ensemble
2005
Music arranged and conducted by Mark Masters
Tracks:
Introduction, Summertime, A Woman is a Sometime Thing, Gone Gone Gone, My Man's Gone Now, It Ain't Necessarily So, Here Come de Honey Man, I Loves You Porgy, A Red Headed Woman, Clara Clara, and There's a Boat Dat's Leaving for New York
One Day With Lee
Lee Konitz with the Mark Masters Ensemble
2004
Music arranged and conducted by Mark Masters
Tracks:
Thingin, Dream Stepper, Gundula, Cork n Bib, 317 East 32nd Street, Lover Man, and Palo Alto
The Clifford Brown Project
Mark Masters Ensemble
2003
Music arranged by Mark Masters and Jack Montrose
Tracks:
Joy Spring, Sweet Clifford, Minor Mood, LaRue, Sandu, Daahoud, I Remember Clifford, Bones for Jones, Swingin, and Joy Spring
The Jimmy Knepper Songbook
Mark Masters Jazz Orchestra
1994
Music arranged by Mark Masters
Tracks:
Primrose Path, Figment Fragment, Languid, Under the Sun, Who You, When I See You, Leave of Absinth, Bertha the Dragoness
Priestess
Mark Masters Jazz Orchestra with Billy Harper and Jimmy Knepper
1994
Music arranged by Mark Masters
Tracks:
Priestess, Windows, Is It Not True Simply Because You Cannot Believe It, Naima, Dance Eternal Spirits Dance, Believe For It Is True, Passion Flower, and Giant Steps