The Beauty of Patience

Patience is in short supply these days. We live in an impatient world, everything must be immediate, instant communication, instant gratification. Yet there are many things in life, many of the best things, which require time and which demonstrate and celebrate patience. The music Marc has created on this album is a great example of the beauty of patience.

In ‘Mostly Love Songs’ Marc has created a beautifully crafted set of songs that unfold at their own pace. It is music of the ‘slow reveal’, music that unfolds in front of you, patiently taking the listener into its world – a world of lyricism laced with poignancy, a world in which melodicism is the thread that binds all the pieces together and celebrates the beauty of song form.

The world of this music is contained within the larger world of jazz, and contains the kind of rhythmic and improvisational approaches and skills one would expect in that world. But it also inhabits a particular region of that world, one also inhabited perhaps by other lyrical composers such as Steve Swallow, Vince Mendoza, and Maria Schneider. It is a world of slow moving parallel harmony, tinged with overtones of Americana, rather than the quick-silver cyclical harmony of the Broadway songbook and typical jazz standard. It is a world of sing-able melodies (such as 'Heart Candy 2' and 'I Long For You'), solos which emerge as extensions of the written, and commentaries on the melody rather than a parade of individual statements.

In creating this album Marc has done that most difficult of things – made an album in which each piece reveals itself to be part of a larger whole. He has created an atmosphere which is consistent throughout, and given the music an identity to which each piece contributes, while also having a life of their own. This is a very difficult feat, its difficulty confirmed by the rarity in which we encounter it.

The beauty and apparent simplicity of the music is a classic example of ‘the art that conceals art’. The apparent ease by which these great young musicians negotiate these pieces can only be achieved by highly skilled musicians who bring high level craft to the table, and place it at the service of the music. In choosing Sebastian Von Keler, Marc Roos, and Stephen Plecher as his colleagues in this endeavour,  Marc has surmounted another hurdle for the aspiring debutante recording artist – he has chosen the right people for the job, the right people to express his overall artistic and creative vision. Marc’s own playing is a model of supportive and creative bass playing. He negotiates with ease this exposed setting in which he is not only the only rhythm instrument, but one in which must also carry the harmony. It is beautiful, elegant playing and, speaking as a fellow bassist, a pleasure to listen to.

‘Mostly Love Songs’ is an album made by a musician and artist wise beyond his years. It is an album with a clear identity, one which revels in the lyrical impulse and the otherworldly beauty of melancholy. It is an album that celebrates the song, that celebrates beauty and that demonstrates to the listener, in the most creative way, the virtues of patience and its value in art and in life.

Ronan Guilfoyle 

June, 2018