Mark Wade - new album and UK live dates, March 2026.
Friday, February 13, 2026
American bassist, composer & educator Mark Wade will release his new trio album "New Stages" on 27th March 2026 and will play a short series of UK live dates during March. Press release attached.
We have received the following press release;
Press Release
Mark Wade Trio
Distinctive and dynamic bassist reaches New Stages, with album and UK tour
New Stages by Mark Wade Trio will be released on CD and Digital on 27 March 2026 by Dot Time Records, marking not only a new album but a turning point in his creative evolution. It’s a moment where his past innovations meet his future ambitions. This is a collection of new, original jazz works inspired by treasured classical music that he has forged a deep personal connection to over the years and that he is delighted to now be bringing forward in this new format. Mark Wade is a modern composer with a global perspective, known for his virtuosic command of both acoustic and electric bass and for blending technical precision with emotional depth. His work defies easy classification, embracing the improvisational spirit of jazz while drawing inspiration from classical and contemporary influences. He will also perform four UK shows in March 2026.
“I try to take inspiration wherever I can find it. Good music is good music, no matter what label you want to put on it. I’ve played both jazz and classical music professionally now for years, and some of the most inspiring sounds I’ve heard were from my experiences playing classical music in the orchestra. Over the last eight years I’ve been collecting some of these remarkable themes from both large orchestral works and small solo works to create a new set of original music for my trio. With this project, I’ve taken on the challenge of finding the essence of these great masterworks and combining it with my unique writing style to produce something completely new and different. I’ve drawn from a wide variety of musical sources ranging from the baroque period to modern day, always combining them with my own compositional ideas and perspectives. Is the result jazz music? Classical music? Something different? That is for every listener to decide.”
A five-time finalist for Bassist of the Year in the DownBeat Magazine Readers’ Poll, Wade has built a reputation as one of modern jazz’s most distinctive and dynamic instrumentalists. New Stages captures that ongoing evolution with a bold step forward that reimagines the architecture of classical compositions through the lens of a modern jazz trio. Drawing from a wide range of works across the classical spectrum, it is an expansive exploration of sound, composition, and collaboration.
LIVE SHOWS 2026
23 March - Benslow Music, Hitchin
25 March - Pizza Express, Dean Street, London
26 March - Hidden Rooms, Cambridge
27 March - The Cow Shed, Sandon, Herts
From international breakout 2015 album Event Horizon to 2022’s True Stories - hailed by DownBeat as “a living work of modern art” - Wade has redefined what the bass can express as a lead instrument in modern jazz.
In 2020, during the global shutdown, he created Songs from Isolation, a groundbreaking visual album that debuted online.
Based in New York City, Mark Wade has appeared at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, The Iridium, and Birdland. He has performed with jazz luminaries including Gary Bartz, James Spaulding, Eddie Palmieri, Conrad Herwig, Harry Whitaker, Stacey Kent, Peter Eldridge, Don Byron, and Jimmy Heath, and he is a longtime member of the Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra. On the classical stage, his credits include performances with the Key West Symphony, as well as the Orchestra of the S.E.M./Janáček Philharmonic (Czech Republic) at both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
Mark Wade is the founder and director of New Music Horizons, an organization dedicated to promoting the work of emerging jazz and classical composers. A respected educator as well as performer, he has served on the jazz faculty at Lehigh University since 2017 and is a former teaching artist with The New York Pops.
Whether on stage or in the classroom, Mark Wade’s influence expands and shapes the sound and stories of contemporary jazz, and with New Stages continues that journey.