Mark Egan and friends to appear in concert

SPARTA-Mark Egan, considered to be one of the most respected and in-demand electric bassists on the music scene today, will be performing at the Sparta Summer Concerts on Friday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. at George Dykstra Park in Sparta. Egan's fretless bass sound and style is both distinctive and versatile. With three platinum and three gold albums to his credit, he has recorded with the Pat Metheny Group, Sting, Arcadia, Roger Daltry, and Joan Osborne, as well as performed with the Gil Evans Orchestra, Marianne Faithful, David Sanborn, and John McLaughlin. Egan has also added his musical prowess to many movies and television shows, such as Aladdin, The Color of Money, A Chorus Line, NBC Sports, ABC's All My Children, and CNN/Headline News. In 1977, Egan joined the Pat Metheny Group and remained a longtime member of the group. He performed on the group's recording with Danny Gottlieb and Lyle Mays, as well as the recording, "American Garage." Egan teamed up with the Metheny drummer Danny Gottlieb to form Elements, an experimental contemporary jazz group. It has recorded over eight full-length albums, toured in over twenty-seven countries, and continues to be on the forefront of the jazz music scene. While Egan continues to work with Elements and hold down the chair in the Gil Evans Orchestra (a position he has held for over thirteen years), his solo projects represent a more personal side of his musical makeup. His solo debut, Mosaic (Windham Hill Records), delved into adventurous territory on his custom-made eight- and ten-string basses, creating soundscapes over multi-layered musical textures. His follow up, Touch of Light (GRP Records) featured Danny Gottlieb (drums), Clifford Carter (keyboards) and Bill Evans (sax), and proved to be more upbeat and aggressive, further exploring the sound of his arsenal of basses (30 at last count). In 1993, Egan signed with Bluemoon Records and released the album Beyond Words, which again featured Gottlieb, Carter and Evans. It also introduced the Brazilian guitarist, Toninho Horta, whose bossa nova style and melodic compositions took their music in a new direction. On Friday, July 15, in Sparta, Egan will be performing with keyboardist Clifford Carter (James Taylor's musical director), drummer Joel Rosenblatt (Spyro Gyra, Michel Camilo), and saxophonist David Mann (Tower of Power, Madonna, James Taylor). Sparta Summer Concerts will be held Friday evenings through the end of July, in George Dykstra Park, behind the Sparta Public Library. In the event of inclement weather, the concerts will move to the Mohawk Avenue School Auditorium, adjacent to the park.