Mark Vinci

Saxophonist and composer Mark Vinci has performed, toured and/or recorded with artists such as Joe Lovano, Stefon Harris, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Zoot Sims, Benny Carter, Tommy Flanagan, Clark Terry, Mel Lewis, Michael Feinstein, Gene Bertoncini, and Joe LaBarbera. As a soloist he has toured Denmark, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, and the USA where he has performed in such places as One Step Down and The Nest in Washington, D.C., Catalina Bar and Grill in LA, and Birdland in NYC.

Mark plays lead alto with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band conducted by Jon Faddis and is a veteran of bands led by Maria Schneider, Woody Herman, Gerry Mulligan, and John Fedchock, performing at festivals such as the North Sea, Kool, Montreaux, Monterey and Nice.

Mr. Vinci has recorded on Bluenote, Capital, Concord, Telarc, SONY, Enja, and Iris, among others. Grand Slam, As I Think About You, and Interplay present him as a leader and composer.

Frequently, he is a featured soloist with big bands in the USA and Europe, performing arrangements of his tunes from "As I Think About You," and other original compositions. He has received numerous big band commissions, and a commission for 200-piece band for a performance at the United Nations.

As an educator Mark Vinci is on the faculty of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and has taught clinics and residencies at colleges and high schools throughout the US, Denmark and, with support from the US Embassy, in the Czech Republic.

Benny Carter..."Mark is one of my favorite players who has it all!"

Woody Herman ..."Mark Vinci is the last of the Four Brothers."

COPENHAGEN POLITIKEN: "You have to go back to Thad Jones to have an adventure with the same infectious enthusiasm. Vinci's playing was supported by exuberance and musical intelligence which brought our thinking back to Julian Cannonball Adderly."

JAZZTIMES ..."Vinci should be placing in the polls alongside Phil Woods, Frank Morgan, Vincent Herring and other top alto saxophonists."

SAXOPHONE JOURNAL ..."Vinci is a masterful composer whose writing shows great skill and intuition."

BILLBOARD ..."One of 1996's overlooked discs of note was Mark Vinci's Grand Slam on Iris Records. He is a crafty soloist."

JAZZ PODIUM ..."If all goes as it should Mark Vinci should very soon become a 'household name' at all the more important Jazz festivals. ... He is in every sense of the word an original."

CADENCE ..."When the band tackles one of the leader's all-hands-on-deck, hold on for your life bop numbers, such as 'AHI' or 'Crow's Nest,' they hit on all cylinders."