Mark Egan


Mark Egan is an American jazz bassist and trumpeter known for his membership in the Pat Metheny Group and the Gil Evans Orchestra. He is co-founder of the jazz fusion band, Elements.

Biography

Mark McDanel Egan was born in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1951. Influenced by his father, he studied trumpet at age 10. He played the trumpet throughout high school, and began playing the bass when he was 15. While attending the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, initially as a trumpet student, he studied with jazz educator Jerry Coker. He switched from trumpet to bass part way through the program. While in Miami he also became friends and performed with Ira Sullivan, Pat Metheny, Danny Gottlieb, Clifford Carter. His teachers included Jaco Pastorius, Dave Holland, and Andy LaVerne.
In 1975, after graduate school, Egan went on tour with Eumir Deodato and the Pointer Sisters and recorded with David Sanborn. Two years later he worked as a studio musician in New York City, where he met Joe Beck and Steve Khan. He was part of the Pat Metheny Group until 1981, then with the Group's drummer, Danny Gottlieb, started the jazz fusion band Elements. They were joined by Bill Evans on saxophone and Clifford Carter on keyboards. Elements recorded and toured through the 1990s. During the 1980s and 1990s, Egan was also part of the Gil Evans Orchestra. He founded his own record label, Wavetone Records.
Egan has made three music videos: Om Yoga & Meditation, Music on the Edge, and Bass Workshop. He has appeared on the soundtracks of movies including Two Moon Junction, The Object of My Affection, You've Got Mail, The Color of Money, Rollover, Quick Change, Blown Away, and A Chorus Line. He recorded an album, Urge, with trumpeter Forrest Buchtel, Jr., featuring, among other things, the theme from CNN Headline News.
Egan has toured and recorded with a vast range of artists including Gil Evans, Pat Metheny, Stan Getz, Sting, Arcadia, Roger Daltrey, Joan Osborne, Marianne Faithfull, Michael Franks, Carly Simon, Art Garfunkel, John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, Pat Martino, Judy Collins, Sophie B. Hawkins, Bill Evans, Lew Soloff, Bryan Ferry, Joe Beck, Jim Hall, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Toninho Horta, Paul Shaffer and The Pointer Sisters.

Discography

As leader