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Mark Sweetman Quartet Presents Remembering John Coltrane

Wynnewood drummer Mark Sweetman brings his quartet to The Living Room for a performance dedicated to the music of Philadelphia's legendary saxophone player John Coltrane. Sweetman will be accompanied by Dave Brodie on bass, Tom Lawton on keyboards and Ed Yellen on saxophone.

These days the number of jazz musicians that truly understand what it means to be a jazz musician is growing scarcer than mice in a cat pound. Refreshingly, Mark Sweetman, the Canadian-born drummer, has yet to divert from the spiritually-enriched sound, soul and life that he discovered in his childhood.

Born in Toronto, Sweetman recalls a vibrant jazz scene where he would spend night after night in the back of Bourbon Street, Toronto's former preeminent jazz club, sipping on ice water, soaking up the energy and melting away with the vibrant sound. There he witnessed tremendous acts like Bill Evans and Chet Baker who taught him what it meant to play with everything from the inside out. Perhaps his greatest influence came while witnessing guitarist Sonny Greenwich roar deep with a tone no other guitarist can duplicate.

In Sweetman, there is a lot of Greenwich. It is apparent in his spiritual mission and the joy and intensity that surround his music. Yet Greenwich was not the only power that awakened Sweetman's musical sense. There was also Sweetman's drum teacher whom he paired up with in Toronto when he was 16. Sweetman describes how his teacher was, totally into getting each student to find his own sound. With a definite focus on Coltrane, Elvin Jones, Miles Davis and Tony Williams. It is in these drum lessons that Sweetman was taught more than just drums but life class, where lessons about jazz theory soon became life lessons. In these pivotal moments Sweetman learned that the first rule of music was to never be afraid of producing ones own sound.

The Mark Sweetman Quartet has recorded five albums including "Ode to a Friend" (2011), "European Landscapes" (2010), "Inspired" (2009), "Remembering John Coltrane" (2006) and "All Paths Lead to One" (2006).

For more information visit www.marksweetmanmusic.com.