In my office there hangs a postcard-sized photograph of Sonny Rollins — captured, I'm sure, in the midst of the umpteenth amazing chorus of some standard we all thought we knew. The pianist in the picture is Mark Soskin, probably best known for his 13-year tenure with the Saxophone Colossus.
Soskin has also worked with everyone from John Abercrombie to Sheila Jordan, from Joe Henderson to Mark Murphy to Dianne Reeves to Phil Woods. He's made numerous recordings of his own, more than a dozen of them. His most recent is Upper West Side Stories (SteepleChase), on which tunes by Frank Loesser, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and others get new dressings, alongside a couple of crafty originals.
Mark stopped into Morning Jazz to perform solo and chat about his new trio release, which he’ll celebrate live at the Kitano this Friday, Aug. 24, with bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Al Foster.
Recording: Corey Goldberg
