Mark Howell is an American musician, composer,[1] ethnomusicologist, and music archaeologist.
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Howell was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1952 and moved to New York City in 1982. In 1996 Howell earned an M.F.A. in music composition at SUNY Stony Brook; and in 2004 a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the CUNY Graduate Centerwith a dissertation called "An Ethnoarchaeological Investigation of Highland Guatemalan Maya Dance-Plays."
In 1983 he formed an avant-garde post-rock band called Better Than Death (BTD) with bass clarinetist Michael Lytle. In 1986 he collaborated with Etron Fou saxophonist, Bruno Meillier to form a Euro-American group called Zero Pop. They recorded, All the Big Mystics and Glows in the Dark. In between Zero Pop tours BTD recorded Swimman (1987), and followed that release with a U.S. tour. Between 1986 and 1994 Zero Pop toured Europe seven times and the United States three.
Howell played guitar on the Curlew record, North America, and met Martin Bisi, Rick Brown, Tom Cora, and Fred Frith. In 1989 he and Frith, Nick Didkovsky, and Rene Lussier formed the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet.In 1989 Howell formed a third band, Timber, with drummer, Rick Brown and bass player, Faye Hunter who was later replaced by Jenny Wade. Between 1989 and 1996 Timber made two U.S. tours and one in Europe. They released one CD, Parts and Labor, were included on Matador's LP and CD New York Eye and Ear Control, as well as on two of Elliott Sharp's State of the Union compilation CDs. Howell's involvement with the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet between 1989 and 1995, included five European tours, several U.S. performances and the recording of "The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not," which was released on Frith's CD, Quartets. He also played with Frith, Didkovsky, Lussier, and others, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music performance of, "In Memory," in 1989.
In addition to his band work, Howell has composed for Lynn Shapiro (at the American Dance Festival 1994), Amy Sue Rosen, Diane Torr, and Stephanie Artz. He was also commissioned by several ensembles including "North By South," (1993) for percussionist Kevin Norton, and "To the Heart," (1997) for the ten-piece mixed ensemble, New Ear. His composition scores were published by Frog Peak Music.
Howell has researched the music of Precolumbian America. He has presented papers and published books and journals on topics related to music archaeology. In 2006 he become the director of the Winterville Site, an archaeology park and museum in the Mississippi Delta.
Howell is a member of the duo called Inconvenient Music.