Mark-Almond

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For the New Wave recording artist, see Marc Almond.

For the Oxford University political writer, see Mark Almond.

Jon Mark & Johnny Almond

Mark–Almond was an English band of the late 1960s and early 1970s, who worked in the territory between rock and jazz. In 1970 Jon Mark and Johnny Almond formed Mark-Almond AKA the Mark-Almond Band. The melancholy tones of saxophonist Johnny Almond were an integral part of the group's sound, and Almond frequently played flutes as well, including the rarely-heard bass flute. Characterized by a blend of blues and jazz riffs, latin beats, and a mellow rock aesthetic, and in contrast the heavier guitar-driven rock of his contemporaries, composer and band leader Jon Mark worked at producing warm and melodic works.

1 Early History
2 Mark-Almond
3 Additional Information
4 References

[edit] Early History

Jon Mark and Mick Jagger co-produced Marianne Faithfull's early recordings, for which Mark played and toured with Faithfull on acosutic guitar. He also toured with folksinger Alun Davies (later of Cat Stevens).

Johnny Almond had previously played in the Alan Price Set and had recorded a 1970 solo record for Deram, "Johnny Almond's Music Machine", as well as performing considerable session work in England.

The two began playing together in John Mayall's popular Bluesbreakers band in 1969, and can be heard on the records "The Turning Point" and "Empty Rooms". From that experience they decided to form Mark-Almond.

[edit] Mark-Almond

Mark-Almond's first two records, "Mark-Almond (1971) and "Mark-Almond Two" (1972) were recorded for Bob Krasnow's Blue Thumb label, and were noted for their embossed envelope-style album covers. The group then recorded two records for Columbia, Rising (1972) and the live recording '73 (1973), by which time the group's members had grown to seven, before disbanding later that year. Jon Mark released a solo record for Columbia "Song For A Friend" in 1975. He and Almond reunited in 1975 and released "To the Heart" on ABC in 1976, which featured noted drummer Billy Cobham. Other notable musicians who have recorded or toured with Mark-Almond include drummer Dannie Richmond, violinst Greg Bloch, keyboardist Tommy Eyre and bassist Roger Sutton. Eyre and Sutton later teamed in Riff Raff. A&M Records signed the duo in 1978 and released "Other People's Rooms", but the record did not sell as well as earlier releases. A number of European releases followed, but Mark-Almond disbanded again in the early 1980's. Mark-Almond reunited again in 1996 for a CD called "Night Music" featuring keyboardist Mike Nock and others.

[edit] Additional Information

Jon Mark eventually moved to New Zealand in the mid-1980's and has released a number of successful solo New Age recordings on his White Cloud music label, as well as collaborting with other artists on traditional Celtic and folk recordings and producing other artists. A release of Tibetan Monk chants Mark recorded and produced with his wife Thelma Burchell won a Grammy award in 2004. Johnny Almond at last report was living in the San Francisco Bay area.