Mark Lomanno

"As someone who has spent his whole career around jazz—at the pianist's bench, in the teacher's classroom, the club manager’s office, and at the academic’s desk—I am working to dissolve the boundaries separating all of these…to make space for collaborative performances that acknowledge the singularities and diversities of the jazz world."

Mark is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at St. John's University, where he teaches courses in jazz, U.S. and world popular music, ethnomusicology, and music of the African Diaspora. After undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond, Mark completed a Master's degree in Jazz History at Rutgers University-Newark (2007) and a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin (2012). He has presented his research at a wide array of national and international conferences; and has performed and led clinics across the United States. In addition to trade publications, his writing has been published in academic journals, including African Music and Jazz Perspectives, the textbook Discover Jazz, and the Grove Dictionary of American Music. During a two-year term (2013-2015) as a Consortium for Faculty Diversity postdoctoral fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College, he curated “Sound Breaks,” a symposium on improvisation, social advocacy, and the liberal arts. Mark also founded and moderates "The Rhythm of Study," a blog that celebrates the passion, creativity, and improvisation of jazz music in the arts, academia, and advocacy.

Mark maintains an active career as a jazz pianist. His most recent recording is Celebrate Brooklyn II (96K Records, 2014), a collaborative project with saxophonist Kike Perdomo. While in Texas he recorded Tales and Tongues (Harriton Carved Wax, 2011) and and Green Horn in a Red State (Harriton Carved Wax, 2014), with Le Monde Caché, a San Antonio-based jazz group that plays Brazilian, Afro-Latin and Jewish diasporic repertoire. He has performed widely throughout the New York City area, including performances at the 55 Bar and the Jazz Standard. Mark has premiered several compositions by the electro-acoustic composer Matthew McCabe, and is featured on the 2007 documentary, Cuba: Rhythm in Motion.