Mark Stanley (born November 7, 1968) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer based in Maryland, USA. A multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, his primary instrument is guitar, on which he touches a wide mix of styles, including jazz, psychedelia, post-punk, art rock, and progressive rock.
Stanley has been working with members of The Muffins since his first recording, "Disconcerto" by Chainsaw Jazz (1993). He has performed live with The Muffins, 9353, Chainsaw Jazz, Clutch, Kristeen Young, Spookey Ruben, and Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, Perfect Circle, Failure). Stanley was a founding member of the band Handsome (band) with Peter Mengede (Helmet). He is the songwriter, vocalist and guitarist for the band Spy Machines (Jean Paul Gaster, Mike Dillon, and Hank Upton) and co-fronts the band Farquhar with Mark Smoot. He has recorded under the pseudonyms Johnny Foodstamps, Pig Manikin, and Levitating Pam.
Stanley studied at Berklee College of Music before graduating from NYU with a degree in Jazz Studies. His private teachers include Wayne Krantz, Hal Galper, Bruce Arnold, Charlie Banacos and Paul Bollenback.
Mark Stanley is the 1st cousin once removed of Owsley Stanley, the great grandson of Augustus Owsley Stanley, great great-grandson of Pierce Crosby, and Otto Hilgard Tittmann and is the great great-grandnephew of William Owsley.
Stanley has released eighteen recordings as a bandleader:
His band Farquhar has made three records distributed by Cuneiform Records
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.
Stanley Clarke is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fusion bassist to headline tours, sell out shows worldwide and have recordings reach gold status.
Samuel Ervin Beam, better known by his stage name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a live album. He occasionally tours with a full band.
Clutch is an American rock band from Germantown, Maryland. Since its formation in 1991, the band lineup has included Tim Sult, Dan Maines (bass), Jean-Paul Gaster (drums), and Neil Fallon. To date, Clutch has released thirteen studio albums, and several rarities and live albums. Since 2008, the band has been signed to their own record label, Weathermaker Music. Clutch is one of the pioneers of stoner rock.
Martha and the Muffins are a Canadian rock band, active from 1977 to the present. Although they only had one major international hit single "Echo Beach" under their original band name, they had a number of hits in their native Canada, and the core members of the band also charted in Canada and internationally as M + M.
Augustus Owsley Stanley III was an American-Australian audio engineer and clandestine chemist. He was a key figure in the San Francisco Bay Area hippie movement during the 1960s and played a pivotal role in the decade's counterculture.
"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is a 1953 novelty song, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon. It was written on the 500th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. The lyrics humorously refer to the official renaming of the city of Constantinople to Istanbul. The song's original release, performed by The Four Lads, was certified as a gold record. Numerous cover versions have been recorded over the years, most famously a 1990 version by They Might Be Giants.
Pitchfork is the debut EP by American rock band Clutch, released on vinyl 7" & 12" in October 1991 only in the US.
John Laird Abercrombie was an American jazz guitarist. His work explored jazz fusion, free jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Abercrombie studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for his understated style and his work with organ trios.
Old and New Dreams was an American jazz group that was active from 1976 to 1987. The group was composed of tenor saxophone player Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell. All of the members were former sidemen of free jazz progenitor and alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and the group played a mix of Coleman's compositions and originals by the band members.
Pitchfork & Lost Needles is a Clutch compilation album, released in 2005, of previous EPs by the band, with some demos and session outtakes.
Human Sexual Response was an American new wave band formed in Boston in 1978. The band broke up in 1982.
20 Jazz Funk Greats is the third studio album by British industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in December 1979 by the band's Industrial Records label. Known for its tongue-in-cheek title and artwork, it has been hailed as the band's best work, with Fact naming it the best album of the 1970s and Pitchfork naming it the best industrial album of all time.
Kamchatka are a Swedish rock band highly influenced by late 1960s and early 1970s blues rock bands. Their sound combines elements of blues rock, stoner rock and psychedelic rock.
Jean-Paul Gaster is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Clutch.
Ben Perowsky is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, and music producer. He is the drummer on stage in the 8 TONY award winning Broadway musical Hadestown. Perowsky leads the Ben Perowsky Trio, Moodswing Orchestra and Upstream Trio with Chris Speed and John Medeski. He is a founding member of the electric jazz group Lost Tribe. A prolific sideman, Perowsky has performed with Roy Ayers, John Scofield, The Lounge Lizards, Joan As Police Woman, Elysian Fields, Darryl Jenifer, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, Mike Stern, Bob Berg, Walter Becker, Steven Bernstein., and John Zorn.
This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 1 is a compilation album released by Relapse Records focusing on grindcore and powerviolence bands. The LP was released by Deep Six Records. A limited edition box set of 7 7" records was released in January 2009. The album features 14 bands, 51 tracks and has a total running time of 57 minutes and 4 seconds. The album was compiled by Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer/Agoraphobic Nosebleed fame.
The Muffins were an American Maryland-based progressive rock/avant-jazz group. They were formed in Washington, DC in the early 1970s and recorded four albums before disbanding in 1981. In 1998 the group reformed and recorded a further five albums and a DVD. The Muffins played at Symphony Space on Broadway in NYC with Marion Brown in 1979, and also performed at a number of festivals, starting with the ZU Manifestival in New York City in 1978, The Villa Celimontana festival in Rome, Italy in 2000, two appearances at Progday in 2001 and 2002, NEARfest in 2005, and the "Rock in Opposition" festival in France in 2009. In 2010, the Muffins headlined at Progday, making a third appearance at this long running festival.
Petter Wettre is a Norwegian Jazz musician (Saxophone) and composer, known from a number of album recordings, accompanied by receiving the Spellemannprisen two times.