Marc Black

Marc Black's songs hold up a mirror to his audience. A mirror that gets under their skin and somehow makes them feel good about what they see. As Phil Demetrion, a music reviewer from Paris recently put it, "From the 70's right down to the present day, Marc Black's chant-based songs and improvisational rave-ups have kept dancing souls movin' and groovin'. One might say that his live gigs presaged today's 'jam band' scene." He has recorded and performed live in many formats, from improvisational rock, to ambient experimental performance art, from solo acoustic guitar, to exotic compositions for tuba and vocal choirs.

He's currently involved in a recording project with Warren Bernhardt, Steve Gadd, Art Garfunkel, John Sebastian and the Dixie Hummingbirds, entitled 'Stroke of Genius'. The songs are based on the poetry of a Dan Mountain, a friend of Marc's, who had a stroke and was in a coma for 21 days. He miraculously woke up after his doctors had pulled life support!

Last year, Marc recorded a CD with help from Garth Hudson that featured themes from Dmitri Shastkovich. Black's recording credits include a collaboration with Richie Havens on the title cut of the award-winning, American Children CD and the theme music for the New York Mets in 1990. He has also produced albums for RCA, Jubilee, ESP, and the Suma labels. As Paul Winter put it, "His songs are great and the singing is superb."

While still in high school, his band, The Blades of Grass, recorded a top 40 hit called Happy. A few years later, the Marc Black Band's self titled album was a rare indie pick hit in Billboard. And his disc from 1998, Older Than Dirt, has received many raves including this one in Dirty Linen, "Marc Black's lyrics are clever yet unpretentious, simple yet poetic, introspective but not esoteric."

He lives and works with his wife, Susan...about 40 miles north of New York City. His two sons are out of the house with bands of their own...Apollo Sunshine and Jaime Sol Black.