Mark Whitlam

Versatility, creative flair and great feel have established Mark as one of the first-call players in the South West.  Putting the needs of the music first is at the centre of his approach, Mark is a passionate, authoritative and authentic performer. 

Mark has performed live and/or recorded with some of the UK’s finest jazz musicians, including ECM artists Andy Sheppard and Iain Ballamy as a member of their respect quartets, Clare Teal, Jason Rebello (Sting, Jeff Beck), Claire Martin, Pee Wee Ellis (James Brown), and Jim Mullen (Average White Band) and cross-genre artist collaborations with Goldfrapp's Will Gregory, Portishead's Adrian Utley and BBC Proms conductor Charles Hazlewood.

With a command of a wide range of styles and impeccable reading skills, Mark has gained extensive musical theatre experience, having performed in the West End, Edinburgh Fringe, UK tours and was invited to deputise on the drum chair for the 2016 world tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. In 2024 he was chair-holder for Piaf and deputised on the world premiere of Starter For Ten at Bristol Old Vic. Previous theatre work includes Jesus Christ Superstar, We Will Rock You, Sister Act, Shrek and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, amongst many others.

Mark was called on to play for Liane Carroll's The Right To Love album launch (covering the drum chair for Ralph Salmins) and played headline festivals with Mercury Prize nominee and Radio 2 folk award winner, Eliza Carthy and the Wayward Band in 2018.

Live performances have taken him from Glastonbury Festival to The Royal Albert Hall, and across to Europe. His recorded work has received airplay on BBC Radio 3 (Jazz on 3, Late Junction and Jazz Requests), BBC Radio 2 (Jamie Cullum), BBC 6 Music  (Introducing...) and Jazz FM, having also recorded live broadcasts for Jez Nelson's Jazz on 3 show from Manchester Jazz Festival and The Vortex in London.  He was commissioned to compose for an episode of the HBO/BBC 2020 television miniseries, Industry.

TEACHING:

A committed music educator, Mark is a Teaching Fellow in Music at Bath Spa University and has also been a Senior Lecturer at BIMM Univeristy since 2008, supporting the development of undergraduate and postgraduate students. He has also delivered a masterclass workshops at Birmingham Conservatoire with Iain Ballamy. He holds a Masters degree in Music Composition (distinction) from the University of Bristol.

A confessed transcription nerd, Mark has recently been engaged to transcribe the drum and percussion parts for Paul Simon's latest album Stranger to Stranger, published worldwide through Music Sales Ltd. 

RESEARCH:

Mark is currently a part-time PhD researcher at the University of Bristol, exploring the role of deep learning (artificial intelligence) as creative agents in composition and improvised performance. He has recently attended IRCAM in Paris to train of state-of-the-art technological tools in this area.

“Whitlam’s neatly energetic drumming … is consistently bright, inventive and responsive”    (Ian Mann, www.thejazzmann.com)

“Andy [Sheppard]’s composed playing gave a playful tone ... a mood caught by Mark Whitlam in an exuberant drum solo that never strayed into bombast and showed how the young player had  comfortably assimilated himself into the trio”   (Tony Benjamin, bristol247.com)

Background photograph:  David Lake / Manchester Jazz Festival 2013