Mark P SEGAL

Born October 28, 1967, in New York City, my father was the director of advertising for several large movie studios. My mother, an actress early in life, later taught nursery school before returning to school and earning her masters in marriage, family, and child counseling. They are both strong advocates of the arts and I attribute my love of music to them. From an early age I was exposed to the great rock artists of the day such as the Beatles; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Jackson Browne; Harry Chapin; and many others.   We moved out to sunny California (Los Angeles area) in 1975 and a few years later, at the age of 11, I received my first electric guitar. It was a Les Paul copy paired with a small Montgomery Ward amplifier. I took guitar lessons for several years and trained my ear to learn my favorite songs off records including the guitar solos. 

In my mid-teens I became fascinated with progressive rock. Artists such as Yes; Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, Genesis and Jeff Beck transformed me into a whole new realm of musical tastes. I loved the technical mastery of musicianship, odd meters, and epic songs that took me on a musical journey far more advanced than simple formulaic pop tunes.  By my late teens my love of progressive rock transitioned into a love of jazz and jazz/fusion. Artists such as Chick Corea, Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny, Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson, Steve Morse and the Dixie Dregs, and many others became staples of my music library.  

At the age of 19 I left the music program at Cal State Long Beach to pursue a more specialized program for guitar by enrolling at Musicians Institute (MI) in Hollywood, CA. MI was an intense 1-year program that helped me develop the style and technique that is who I am today as a musician.  

After school I co-founded the jazz/fusion band “High Maintenance” with Barry Wehrli, a keyboardist and friend from high school. We featured mostly original music, written individually and together, and performed all over Los Angeles- mainly at clubs and civic functions. With money tight I decided to leave the band for a more lucrative variety band called “Basix”. We performed all over Southern California, Nevada, and Branson, MO. Although the music was mainly cover material it gave me the opportunity to hone my craft in an interactive environment over many years.   In my spare time I created a digital audio recording studio in my home where I wrote and recorded 3 full length CD’s. These works are very personal to me as I wrote all the tracks and performed or programmed all the instruments. Although I have extensive performing experience I have yet to perform the bulk of my original material for a live audience. It is a goal of mine to do this someday so that the songs can really come alive! 

One personal highlight for me was to perform in front of 10,000 people at a July 4th festival backing the legendary “Coasters & Drifters”.

 We had the opportunity to warm-up the crowd with our own set of material and we opened with one of my original songs, 

“Song for Carlos” (Wisdom of the Ancients, 1999).

The song was well received, and I had many questions and comments about it from total strangers after the show!

Mark P Segal