"Jazz Thoughts for the Day - January" is the first CD in this series by pianist Mark Massey. This album offers 31 tracks--one for each day in January--for your daily dose of pure piano improvisation. Jazz fans (and classical, too) will appreciate that each piece is a veritable jazz impromptu: composed/improvised totally spontaneously, as did Bach and Mozart! Nothing planned, nothing rehearsed, nothing written down--every note generated from the heart. They are in a wide range of idioms--from mainstream to contemporary, gospel-style to world and folk-jazz. Moods: meditative and joyous, pensive and playful. Total Playing Time: about 65 minutes. ABOUT MARK: Mark was born and raised in Lynwood, California where he showed early talent on piano, trombone, and drums. He graduated from California State University, Long Beach (Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music), where he was recipient of the Carmen Dragon Fellowship for composition. Mark's piano influences are diverse: Vince Guaraldi, Keith Jarrett, Dave Grusin, Joe Sample, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, George Winston, Fats Waller, and more. Mark Massey has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, the former Soviet Union, Russia, the Far East and India. He has worked with Larry Carlton, David Benoit, Paul Horn, Poncho Sanchez, Hubert Laws, the Side Street Strutters, Phil Upchurch, L. Subramaniam, and the late, great Louie Bellson, Freddie Hubbard, Maynard Ferguson, Yehudi Menuhin, Ray Brown, Stéphane Grappelli, and Tony Williams. Past Reviews of Mark Massey's piano work: "Mark Massey is awfully good. His friendly, lyrical, melodic piano has a sound unto itself, bop and post-bop influenced, contemporarily informed, and languishing solidly in the modern mainstream." -MICHAEL G. NASTOS, ALL MUSIC GUIDE "At home, improvising fluid lines no matter what the vehicle" -ZAN STEWART, LOS ANGELES TIMES "Mark Massey is an excellent straight-ahead pianist who often appears in the L.A. area. ...his playing is consistently appealing." -SCOTT YANOW (author of the books Swing and Bebop : The Essential Listening Companion) ALBUM CREDITS: All music composed and performed by Mark Massey © 2009, Geofonica Artistworks (ASCAP) Mastered by Wayne Cook Cover photo: "Winter Trees" © Jaap Hart, used by permission. Design by Dorothy Wineman Produced by Brad Powell, for Geofonica Records. © 2008-2009 Geofonica Records