Mark got his start playing trombone at age 10 when his father showed him how to hold the instrument. After that he was pretty much on his own, learning how to play by listening to groups like Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears way before they became “oldies” groups. In high school, he got to play with Maynard Ferguson and Count Basie and thought it was pretty cool to do that until realizing that all the great musicians actually knew what notes were in a G major seventh chord. So he got a degree in computer science and decided to hang around really good musicians long enough until they asked him to play. After only 30 years, he is finally playing with Uptown.