Mark Helias

Mark Helias (born October 1, 1950) is an American jazz double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

He did not begin playing the double bass until the age of 20, graduating from Yale University's School of Music with a Masters degree in 1976. He has also studied at Rutgers University. He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College, The New School, and SIM (School for Improvised Music).

Helias has performed with a wide variety of musicians, first and foremost with trombonist Ray Anderson, with whom he led the ironic 1980s avant-funk band Slickaphonics, and a trio with Gerry Hemingway on drums, formed in the late 1970s, later named BassDrumBone, and continuing to play together. Besides Helias performed with the previous members of Ornette Colemans original band, Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, and Ed Blackwell, just as with musicians affiliated with the AACM, such as Anthony Braxton, Anthony Davis, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Julius Hemphill. Furthermore he played with Cecil Taylor, Marilyn Crispell, Simon Nabatov, and reed players i cludings Oliver Lake, Carlos Ward, Arthur Blythe, Don Byron, and Marty Ehrlich, whereas less usual were performances with Abbey Lincoln, Mose Allison, and J.B. Horns.

Since 1984 Mark Helias has released six recordings under his own name and further six albums leading the archetypal improvising trio Open Loose since 1996. The group comprises Helias on bass, first Ellery Eskelin, then Tony Malaby on tenor saxophone and Tom Rainey on drums.

Recognition/Awards

 * 2010 - American Composers Orchestra Reading Commission,
 * 2007 - Chamber Music America Grant for New Works,
 * 2006 - Distinguished Alumnus Award ­Livingston College,
 * 1991 - Meet the Composer/Readers Digest Commission,
 * 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000 - Arts International Travel Grant,
 * 1988, 1994 - NYFA Grant in Music Composition,
 * 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1995 - NEA Grant in Jazz Performance,
 * 1981 - CAPS Grant in Music Composition,

As leader

 * Fictionary (GM, 1998)
 * Loopin’ the Cool ([Enja, 1995)
 * Attack the Future (Enja, 1992)
 * Desert Blue (Enja, 1989)
 * The Current Set (Enja, 1987)
 * Split Image (Enja, 1984)

With Open Loose
 * Explicit - Live at the Sunset (Marge, 2011)
 * Strange Unison (Radio Legs, 2008)
 * Atomic Clock (Radio Legs, 2006)
 * Verbs of Will (Radio Legs, 2004)
 * New School (Enja, 2001) Tony Malaby replaces Eskelin
 * Come Ahead Back... (E1 Music/Koch Jazz, 1998) with Ellery Eskelin and Tom Rainey

Collaborations
With Sophia Domancich and Andrew Cyrille With Terrence McManus and Gerry Hemingway With Michael Moore, Alex Maguire, and Han Bennink With Mark Dresser With Daniele D'Agaro and U.T. Gandhi With Christy Doran, Bobby Previte, Gary Thomas With Slickaphonics With Ray Anderson and Gerry Hemingway a.k.a. BassDrumBone
 * Courtepointe - Live at the Sunside (Marge, 2012)
 * Transcendental Numbers (NoBusiness, 2011)
 * White Widow (Ramboy, 2001)
 * The Marks Brothers (WERF, 2000)
 * Gentle Ben (Nota, 1999)
 * Corporate Art (JMT, 1991)
 * Live (Teldec, 1988)
 * Check Your Head at the Door (Teldec, 1986)
 * Humatomic Energy (Blue Heron, 1985)
 * Modern Life (Enja, 1984)
 * Wow Bag (Enja, 1982)
 * The Other Parade (Clean Feed, 2011)
 * The Line Up (Clean Feed, 2006)
 * March of Dimes (Data, 2002)
 * (Hence the Reason) (Enja, 1997)
 * Wooferlo (Soul Note, 1989) first album as BassDrumBone
 * Cooked to Perfection (Auricle, 1999; Compilation of rec. from 1986, 1987, and 1996)
 * You Be (Minor Music, 1986)
 * Oahspe (Auricle, 1979)

As sideman
With Ralph Alessi and Modular Theatre With Barry Altschul With Ray Anderson With the Ed Blackwell Project With Jane Ira Bloom With Anthony Braxton With Marilyn Crispell With Franco D'Andrea With Anthony Davis With Benoît Delbecq Unit With Paul Dunmall Sun Quartet With Marty Ehrlich With Ricardo Gallo's Tierra de Nadie With Dennis González NY Quartet With Jerome Harris With Gerry Hemingway With Peter Herborn With David Lopato With Joe Lovano With Michael Moore With Simon Nabatov With Operazone (Bill Laswell-Alan Douglas-Karl Berger-Project) With Bobby Previte With Enrico Rava With Dewey Redman With Joe Rosenberg With Samo Salamon With Dave Schnitter
 * Open Season (RKM Music, 2008)
 * Irina (Soul Note, 1983)
 * Brahma (Sackville, 1980)
 * Somewhere Else (Moers Music, 1979)
 * Wishbone (Justin Time, 1991)
 * Right Down Your Alley (Soul Note, 1984)
 * Vol.1: What It Is? (Enja, 1993)
 * Vol.2: What It Be Like? (Enja, 1994)
 * Wingwalker (Outline, 2010)
 * Mental Weather (Outline, 2008)
 * Six Compositions: Quartet (Antilles, 1982)
 * Quintet (Basel) 1977 (hatOLOGY, 2001)
 * Storyteller (ECM, 2003)
 * Sei brani inediti (Red, 1991)
 * No Idea of Time (Red, 1984)
 * My One and Only Love (Red, 1983)
 * Song for the Old World (India Navigation, 1978)
 * Benoît Delbecq and Fred Hersch Double Trio - Fun House (Songlines, 2013)
 * Phonetics (Songlines, 2005)
 * Ancient and Future Airs (Clean Feed, 2009)
 * The Long View (Enja, 2002)
 * Dark Woods Ensemble - Sojourn (Tzadik, 1999)
 * Dark Woods Ensemble - Live Wood (Music & Arts, 1997)
 * Dark Woods Ensemble - Just Before the Dawn (New World, 1995)
 * The Great Fine Line (Clean Feed, 2011)
 * Dance of the Soothsayer’s Tongue (Live at Tonic) (Clean Feed, 2007)
 * NY Midnight Suite (Clean Feed, 2004)
 * Algorithms (Minor, 1986)
 * The Whimbler (Clean Feed, 2005)
 * Outerbridge Crossing (Sound Aspects, 1989)
 * Kwambe (Auricle, 1978)
 * Traces of Trane (JMT, 1992)
 * Inside Outside (Enemy, 1991)
 * Rush Hour (Blue Note, 1994)
 * Bering (Ramboy, 1998)
 * Chicoutimi (Ramboy, 1994)
 * Home Game (Ramboy, 1992)
 * The Master and Margarita (Leo, 2001)
 * Tough Customer (Enja, 1993)
 * The Redesign (Knitting Factory Works, 2000)
 * Music of the Moscow Circus (Gramavision, 1991)
 * Flat Fleet (Philology, 2005)
 * The Struggle Continues (ECM, 1982)
 * Musics (Galaxy, 1978)
 * Soundsigns (Galaxy, 1978)
 * Do What We Must Do (CIMP, 2002)
 * Government Cheese (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2007; rec. 2004)
 * Two Hours (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2006; rec. 2004)
 * Glowing (Muse, 1981)