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Guitarist/Composer Mark Kleinhaut Releases "Holding the Center" on Invisible Music

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“Jazz guitar aficionados should get to know about this closely-knit, swinging unit from the Pine Tree State led by one of the truly brilliant guitarists on the jazz scene today"--Bill Milkowski

Holding the Center (Invisible Music, May 16, 2006) is the Mark Kleinhaut Trio's eclectic follow-up to their 2003 release A Balance of Light (JazzWeek Top 20, Feb. 2004), which featured world-renowned saxophonist Bobby Watson. This latest offering from master guitarist Mark Kleinhaut features his dazzling technical skills, while thirteen eclectic compositions take the trio in new directions that draw on influences outside of jazz to expand their palette of improvisational inspirations. On Holding the Center, Kleinhaut diverges from his approach to his two previous recordings, which featured world-class horn players. On this offering, Kleinhaut showcases his trio's empathic interplay as they delve into his sophisticated compositions. The prior albums helped forge the group's cohesive center, and it is around this center that Kleinhaut spins a web of acoustic and electronic sounds to capture the deep emotional beauty contained in his music. What makes his compositions truly satisfying is his ability to marry the edge of excitement to the soft comforts of swing, Kleinhaut creates jazz that is centrist in perspective--modern and forward, yet steeped in jazz traditions; music that is fresh, yet hauntingly familiar, cerebral and fun.

Kleinhaut's new compositions, designed around beautiful melodies, incorporate electronic, rock, and world-music elements to create some of Kleinhaut's most engaging music to date. One listen to the dynamic chemistry between Kleinhaut and long time collaborators Jim Lyden (bass), and Les Harris, Jr. (drums), and you understand that these musicians have been playing together for years. They groove effortlessly between slamming backbeat numbers like “Baby R" or “Rock and Sand" straightforward swingers like “Holiday" or the Monkish “Green Tea" and delicate bossa novas like “Shells on Ancon Beach" or “A Passing Bird." While they provide a solid platform for Kleinhaut to launch some scorching improvisational pyrotechnics--his solo on Holiday for one--and explore his own inner melodicism, Lyden and Harris are not relegated to the background. Bassist Lyden lays down a gorgeous bowed solo on “Holding the Center" and commands the melody on the melancholy ballad “Gospel of B." While drummer Harris' versatility is clearly demonstrated as he effortlessly transitions from a lightly interactive touch on the swinging “Holiday" to a more solidly grounded approach on the driving “Rock and Sand" to an understated rhythmic accompaniment on the alluring bossa nova “Shells on Ancon Beach."

Mark Kleinhaut has been playing jazz guitar for over thirty years, during which time he has achieved one of the most prized and elusive goals in jazz--a highly personal sound and recognizable voice on his instrument. His clean guitar tones may first recall one to the great tradition of mainstream jazz guitarists like Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino, but listeners soon detect something else in Kleinhaut's highly evolved vocabulary. His playing avoids the clichs and trappings of the too-familiar jazz jargon in favor of melodic phrases that twist and leap passionately with the immediacy of the moment, yet follow his relentless pursuit of logic, balance and beauty.

After completing his formal music studies at Rutgers University (B.A.1979) under the direction of the late Ted Dunbar, Kleinhaut eschewed the typical path to establishing himself as a jazz musician. He did not move to NYC as a young player to get started, instead pursuing a career in a non-music related field-banking (like his mentor Ted Dunbar, who was a pharmacist). However, Kleinhaut continued to pursue his musical artistry, maintaining rigorous practice and gigging schedules, working steadily to develop his own voice and musical ideas, all the while building a network of friends and collaborators in the jazz world. Mark makes frequent trips to New York City to play with friends at clubs such as Detour Jazz Club, 55 Bar and Trumpets (NJ), or as a member of the jazzcorner.com community in jam sessions at the Iridium and Birdland. Kleinhaut has taken his trio on tour in Germany and the Netherlands, and has toured as a duo in Cuba with clarinetist/whistler Brad Terry.

During his 3-year term as president of the Maine Jazz Alliance (a non-profit jazz support and advocacy group), Mark was instrumental in bringing a long list of jazz luminaries to Southern Maine and worked tirelessly for jazz education. Under his leadership, MJA brought Jazz music to thousands of Maine School children through the “Jazz Goes to School" program. Mark has also made Maine a destination for some of his own work bringing nationally recognized jazz artists such as Bobby Watson and Tiger Okoshi to Maine to perform and record. Kleinhaut teaches privately, was adjunct faculty at University of Southern Maine, and has conducted clinics and workshops at Universities and High Schools, including Bowdoin College and the University of Maine. Mark uses his business acumen for the betterment of jazz in his community as a founding director of Access Jazz, Inc. a non-profit organized to promote public awareness and understanding of jazz. Kleinhaut has served as a member of the board of the Maine Jazz Alliance, University of Southern Maine's School of Music advisory board, and on the boards of the Maine Jazz Festival and the Maine Jazz Camp.

Jim Lyden is one of the first call bassists for jazz in southern Maine. He has performed as a sideman with John LaPorta, Roswell Rudd, Herb Pomeroy, Frank Foster, and many others. He has performed with the trombone septet The Maine Bones, a western swing band The Pinetones, as well as with an Afro-Cuban ensemble and in summer theater orchestras.

Drummer Les Harris Jr. has performed and toured with musicians ranging from the jazz vocal group The Ritz, Tommy Gallant's Trio, the Artie Shaw Orchestra, Scott Hamilton, Diana Krall, Cheryl Bentyne, Clark Terry, Milt Jackson, Phil Woods, Art Farmer, Annie Ross, Teddy Wilson, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Ray Brown, Marian McPartland, Jimmy Heath, Charlie Mariano, Jim Howe and Don Doane.

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