Mark Sherman

Not to be confused with the Associated Press journalist of the same name, this Mark Sherman is a vibraphonist and composer whose work sits squarely in the post-bop and hard-bop idioms. In addition to the vibraphone he also performs on acoustic piano, electric keyboards, marimba, drums, and percussion. His primary influences on the vibraphone are Bobby Hutcherson and the late Milt Jackson, while Gary Burton and Mike Mainieri have exerted both direct and indirect influence; traces of Cal Tjader’s sophistication likewise surface in his improvisations.

A lifelong New Yorker, Sherman was born in the Bronx on April 17, 1957. During his high-school years at the High School of Music and Art he aspired to become a jazz drummer in the mold of his idol Elvin Jones and studied drums with the post-bop master. Over time the vibraphone emerged as his principal instrument, and in 1980—at age twenty-three—he issued his debut album as a leader, Fulcrum Point, on the Unisphere label.

While enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music during the 1980s, Sherman encountered trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, already a Columbia Records artist. Marsalis arranged an introduction to A&R executive George Butler at Columbia/CBS (now Columbia/Sony), resulting in Sherman’s second leader date, A New Balance, released on Columbia in 1986. Like Marsalis, Sherman commands both straight-ahead jazz and Euro-classical repertoire; after Juilliard he appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, and additional classical ensembles. His late mother, classical singer Edith Gordon, notwithstanding, Sherman has always identified primarily as a jazz musician who performs classical music incidentally.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he accompanied numerous jazz, traditional-pop, and cabaret vocalists, among them Peggy Lee (for six years), Jackie & Roy, Mel Tormé, and Liza Minnelli. He also toured the United States with blues, early-R&B, and jazz luminary Ruth Brown and appeared on her 1993 Fantasy album Songs of My Life.

In the 1990s Sherman formed a close association with guitarist Larry Coryell, serving extensively as a sideman and producing two of Coryell’s recordings: I’ll Be Over You for CTI in 1994 and Sketches of Coryell for Shanachie in 1996. Although he remained active as a sideman, his own catalog grew modestly; toward the decade’s end he founded the independent Mile High Productions. Its early releases comprised The Spiral Staircase in 1997, High Rollin’ in 1998, and Daylight Calling, a co-led session with saxophonist Tim Hegarty.

In 2004 Sherman recorded his sixth album as a leader, The Motive Series, for Consolidated Artists Productions. The project showcases tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker on two tracks and consists predominantly of Sherman’s original compositions.