Mark–Almond was a jazz-influenced English pop group of the 1970s and early 1980s, sometimes also called The Mark-Almond Band. The core members were

Jon Mark Jon Mark (born John Michael Burchell; 8 May 1943 – 10 February 2021) was an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his recordings with Marianne Faithfull, Sweet Thursday, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Mark, who received a ...

, who sang lead and played guitar, percussion, and harmonica and

Johnny Almond Johnny Almond (20 July 1946 – 18 November 2009) was a British saxophonist, who is best known for his recordings with the Alan Price Set, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Biography Johnny Almond was born in Enfield, Middlesex, Engla ...

who played saxophone, flute and bass flute and sang back-up. Various other musicians recorded and toured with the duo at various times, notably including drummer

Dannie Richmond Charles Daniel Richmond (December 15, 1931 – March 16, 1988) was an American jazz drummer who is best known for his work with Charles Mingus. He also worked with Joe Cocker, Elton John and Mark-Almond. Biography Richmond was born Charles ...

, a long-time associate of jazz bassist

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

Early history

In 1963, Jon Mark, using his given name John Michael Burchell, and a former schoolmate, Alun Davies; singer-songwriter,

folk guitar Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Folk ...

ist and

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States ...

musician, (later of

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

' band), recorded as a

duo Duo may refer to: Places *Duo, West Virginia, an unincorporated community and coal town in Greenbrier County, West Virginia *Duo, Tampere, a shopping centre in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland * DUO, a twin-tower development in Singapore Arts, enterta ...

, an album entitled ''Relax Your Mind'', on

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

.Anderson, Murphy
Magicat: ''Relax Your Mind With Jon and Alun''
/ref> From 1965 on, Mark accompanied Marianne Faithfull on her

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

and concerts. Moreover, he wrote and arranged many tracks on her first three albums ("Marianne Faithfull", "Come My Way" and "North Country Maid"), also writing a few songs for her ("Come My Way", "Lullaby"). In 1968 Mark and Davies founded the short-lived band

Sweet Thursday ''Sweet Thursday'' is a 1954 novel by John Steinbeck. It is a sequel to ''Cannery Row'' and set in the years after the end of World War II. According to Steinbeck, "Sweet Thursday" is the day between Lousy Wednesday and Waiting Friday. Plot sum ...

. The five-piece band had only one recording, the eponymous ''

'' on

Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label that was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label. History Fontana started in the 1950s as a subs ...

. The band was composed of Jon Mark, Alun Davies,

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

, Harvey Burns, and

Brian Odgers Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

. However, the album was not promoted by their record label, and the bandmates never toured. Johnny Almond, born John Albert Almond on 20 July 1946 in

Enfield, Middlesex Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highw ...

, previously played in

Zoot Money's Big Roll Band Zoot Money's Big Roll Band is a British rhythm and blues and soul group, also influenced by jazz, formed in England by Zoot Money, in the early autumn of 1961. The band has had a number of personnel changes over the years and was still performing ...

and the

Alan Price Set Alan Price (born 19 April 1942) is an English musician. He was the original keyboardist for the British band the Animals before he left to form his own band the Alan Price Set. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a m ...

, as well as performing considerable session work in England. In 1969 he had founded ''Johnny Almond's Music Machine'' and had recorded two solo records ''Patent Pending'' and ''Hollywood Blues''. On ''Patent Pending'' Almond is accompanied by Geoff Condon, Jimmy Crawford, Steve Hammond, Roger Sutton and Johnny Wiggins. On ''Hollywood Blues'' he jams with Curtis Amy, Hadley Caliman, Joe Harris,

Charles Kynard Charles Kynard (20 February 1933 – 8 July 1979) was an American soul jazz/ acid jazz organist born in St. Louis, Missouri. Kynard first played piano then switched to organ and led a trio in Kansas City including Tex Johnson (flute, sax) an ...

, Ray Neapolitan,

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

, Earl Palmer and

Vi Redd Elvira "Vi" Redd (born September 20, 1928) is an American jazz alto saxophone player, vocalist and educator. She has been active since the early 1950s and is known primarily for playing in the blues style. She is highly regarded as an accomplis ...

. Almond and Mark began playing together on John Mayall's (post- Bluesbreakers) records '' The Turning Point'' (1969) and ''

Empty Rooms ''Empty Rooms'' is a studio album by English blues musician John Mayall, released in March 1970 on Polydor. It is a follow-up to the live album '' The Turning Point'', released earlier in the year with the same musicians: Jon Mark on acous ...

'' (1969). From that experience they decided to form Mark-Almond.

Mark-Almond

Mark-Almond's first two albums, ''Mark-Almond'' (1970) and ''Mark-Almond II'' (1971) were recorded for Bob Krasnow's

Blue Thumb Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obse ...

label, and were noted for their embossed envelope-style

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

s. The first album, including "The Ghetto", received many plaudits. It also contained "The City", which, at 10 minutes, 32 seconds, is notable for its range of styles and musical expertise. The band's second album contained the Boston regional hit song "One Way Sunday", which garnered airplay for them in the United States on album-oriented rock stations in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts on the WBCN FM AOR radio station, and in Baltimore, MD at WAYE, according to Program Director Ty Ford. The group then recorded two albums for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, ''Rising'' (1972) and the live album, ''Mark-Almond 73'' (1973), by which time the group's members had grown to seven. In October 1972, Mark was involved in an accident in Hawaii and lost most of his left-hand ring finger. Speaking on the incident, Mark was quoted later in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' as saying he "climbed like a native and fell like an Englishman". "What Am I Living For" from ''Mark-Almond 73'' gained the group the most U.S.

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

airplay they would get, but nevertheless they disbanded later that year. 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 Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

(which had acquired Blue Thumb) in 1976, which featured the drummer Billy Cobham. Other notable musicians, who have recorded or toured with Mark-Almond include drummer Dannie Richmond, violinist Greg Bloch, keyboardist

Tommy Eyre Tommy Eyre (5 June 1949 – 23 May 2001) was an English session keyboardist from Sheffield, England, who appeared on records by Joe Cocker, John Martyn, Gary Moore, Michael Schenker, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Greg Lake, B.B. King, John ...

and bassist Roger Sutton. Eyre and Sutton later teamed in

Riff Raff Riff Raff, Riffraff, or Riff-Raff, a term for the common people but with negative connotations, may refer to: In music * Riff Raff (rapper), from Texas * Riff Raff (band), a UK progressive rock band * Riff Raff, a band formed by Billy Bragg * ...

. A&M Records signed the duo in 1978 and released ''Other Peoples Rooms'', but the record did not sell as well as earlier releases. Mark-Almond disbanded again in the mid 1980s, after releasing two albums, ''Tuesday in New York (1980) and a live offering ''The Last & Live'' (1981). In 1996 Mark-Almond reunited again for a CD release, ''Night Music'', which featured keyboardist

Mike Nock Michael Anthony Nock (born 27 September 1940) is a New Zealand jazz pianist, currently based in Australia. Biography He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. Nock began studying piano at 11. He attended Nelson College for one term in 1955.' ...

and others.

Late history

Mark moved to New Zealand in the mid 1980s, and released a number of successful solo

Ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

recordings on his White Cloud record label, as well as collaborating 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 The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

in 2004. Almond lived in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. He died on 18 November 2009 from cancer, aged 63. He occasionally surprised local bar owners, arriving with his sax to jam, some of which was recorded, including a rousing rendition of " Stormy Monday".

Discography

* 1970: ''Mark-Almond'' (

BTS-27; CD reissue: Line LICD 9.00105; latest CD reissue: Varese Sarabande PC: 030206730289 * 1971: ''Mark-Almond II'' (Blue Thumb BTS-32; CD reissue: Line LICD 9.00517) * 1972: ''Rising'' (

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

KC-31917; CD reissue: Line LICD 9.00511) * 1973: ''Mark-Almond 73'' (Columbia KC-32486; CD reissue: Line LICD 9.00514) * 1973: ''The Best Of Mark-Almond'' (Blue Thumb BTS-50) – compilation * 1976: ''To The Heart'' (

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

AB-945; CD reissue: One Way 22084) * 1978: ''Other Peoples Rooms'' (

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

/A&M SP-730; CD reissue: Universal/A&M

apan Apan is a city and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 346.9 km². Overview As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 39,247. It was an important site in the Wa ...

latest CD reissue: Elemental Music PC: 8435395500897 – AUS No. 72 * 1980: ''Tuesday in New York'' (Line 6.24242; CD reissue: Line LICD 9.00056) * 1981: ''The Last & Live'' (Line 6.28538 LP CD reissue: Line LICD 9.00415) * 1981: ''Best Of...Live'' (Pacific Arts PAC7-142) - compilation * 1991: ''The Best Of'' (Rhino MIC 53872) – compilation * 1996: ''Nightmusic'' (White Cloud 11026 PC: 747313002627

Band members

* Bill Berg * Billy Cobham * Geoff Condon * Ken Craddock * Mark Cranny * Alun Davies *

* Steve Gadd * Colin Gibson * Jerry Hey * Larry Knechtel * Will Lee * John Leftwich * Jay Lewis * Ralph MacDonald *

* Dave Marotta * Jeannie McLaine * Wolfgang Melz * Roberto Pattacia * Leon Pendarvis *

* Carlos Rios * Mark Ross * Jim Salargie * Roger Sutton *

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wrec ...

* Bobby Torres *

John Tropea John Tropea (pronounced 'tro-pay'; born January 7, 1946) is an American guitarist. Career Tropea began guitar studies at the age of 12. His musical education continued at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied jazz guitar, harmony, ...

* Bobby Vega *

Larry Williams Larry Williams (born Lawrence Eugene Williams, a.k.a. Lawrence Edward Williams; May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams ...

References

External links

* Rolling Stone Encyclopedia
Mark-Almond Band
* allmusic-Biografie
Mark-Almond.
* Franco

* David E. Miller
Mark-Almond bio
* Andrew Gilbert
Johnny Almond, unknown musician legend, plays Santa Cruz.

Obituary John Almond.

Mark-Almond Band – In Session – 1970 – Past Daily Soundbooth: Tribute Edition (Jon Mark – 1943-2021).

Mark-Almond: The City.
August 24, 2015. {{Authority control 1970 establishments in England 1981 disestablishments in England English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1970 Musical groups disestablished in 1981 Harvest Records artists Blue Thumb Records artists Columbia Records artists ABC Records artists