Mark Helias

Mark Helias (born October 1, 1950) is an American double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

He started playing the double bass at the age of 20, and studied with Homer Mensch at Rutgers University from 1971 to 1974, then at Yale School of Music from 1974 to 1976.

He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College, The New School, and SIM (School for Improvised Music).

Helias has performed with a wide variety of musicians, first and foremost with trombonist Ray Anderson, with whom he led the ironic 1980s avant-funk band Slickaphonics, and a trio with Gerry Hemingway on drums, formed in the late 1970s, later named BassDrumBone.

Helias has also performed with members of Ornette Coleman's band, Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, and Ed Blackwell, and with musicians affiliated with the AACM, such as Anthony Braxton and Muhal Richard Abrams.

Since 1984 Mark Helias has released twelve recordings under his own name and further albums leading the archetypal improvising trio Open Loose since the late 1990s.

The group comprises Helias on bass, first Ellery Eskelin, then Tony Malaby on tenor saxophone and Tom Rainey on drums.

With Open Loose

Duo with Jane Ira Bloom

With Sophia Domancich and Andrew Cyrille

With Terrence McManus and Gerry Hemingway

With Michael Moore, Alex Maguire, and Han Bennink

With Mark Dresser

With Daniele D'Agaro and U.T. Gandhi

With Christy Doran, Bobby Previte, Gary Thomas

With Slickaphonics

With Ray Anderson and Gerry Hemingway a.k.a. BassDrumBone

With Ralph Alessi and Modular Theatre

With Barry Altschul

With Ray Anderson

With the Ed Blackwell Project

With Jane Ira Bloom

With Anthony Braxton

With Don Cherry

With Marilyn Crispell

With Franco D'Andrea

With Anthony Davis

With Benoît Delbecq Unit

With Paul Dunmall Sun Quartet

With Marty Ehrlich

With Ricardo Gallo's Tierra de Nadie

With Dennis González NY Quartet

With Jerome Harris

With Gerry Hemingway

With Peter Herborn

With David Lopato

With Joe Lovano

With Michael Moore

With Simon Nabatov

With Operazone (Bill Laswell-Alan Douglas-Karl Berger-Project)