Album Notes

Madrid, Lisbon, New York—those three places figure large in the imagination and music of drummer-composer Mark Holen as heard and felt on his four Zambomba recordings of orginal music. “Three Gold Coins,” Mark’s latest CD, follows the composer’s musical journeys through flamenco, jazz, Latin, blues, and Brazilian, producing a rhythmically rich exploration of the sounds of these seemingly disparate cities.

About Mark Holen:
Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, Mark studied music at Central Michigan University, orchestral percussion at Indiana University, and Latin percussion with Franke Malabe and Louis Bauzo in New York. He has been composing and recording original music with his group, Zambomba, since 1978. His discography includes Bob Dorough’s “Too Much Coffee, Man,” featuring Phil Woods, Billy Hart, and Ray Drummond for Blue Note Records and “Besame Mucho” with David Leibman, Danilo Perez, and Bill Goodwin for Red Records. Other musicians with whom he’s performed and recorded include Jorge Pardo, Johnny Pacheco, Candidio, Machito, Jimmy Kemper, Bill Dobbins, and Grady Tate. A lifelong student of Spanish and Portuguese, Mark lived in Madrid and Lisbon from 1989 through 1993, where he had the opportunity to play many of the top European jazz clubs and concert tours. He was a member of the teaching faculty at the Hot Club do Portugal jazz school in Lisbon.