In 1995 Mark Holland made a life changing discovery in the world of music – he found the Native American Flute (or did it find him?) The wood flute was just on the verge of a type of renaissance or re-awakening. When Holland began using the Native Flute he started a group, Autumn’s Child. At this early stage it only consisted of flute, guitar and hand percussion.
On Tuesday, October 19 Autumn’s Child will celebrate their 15th anniversary of music at the Sheldon Concert Hall with a CD Release concert. It will begin at 7:30pm and tickets are only $10 in advance through metro-tix. Mark Holland says that the whole Autumn’s Child project happened one step at a time, “it was never a thought out in advance approach – the flute led me along the way in addition to the interest of the listening public.” Holland has released 17 cds to date. The newest, “Balance” will be released October 19 at the Sheldon where the group will perform many selections from the new album as well as other items. Appearing with Holland will be Ranya Iqbal – cello, Billy Engel – guitar, R. Scott Bryan – percussion and Cory Edwards – piano. The cd combines both groove oriented pieces along with meditation type pieces.
Autumn’s Child hopes to schedule some tours next year in support of the new recording.
Holland has been touring across the country in solo performance or with a world percussionist as a duo. He appears at many Native American Flute Festivals most recently in Wisconsin for the INAFA convention where he shared the stage in jam sessions with R. Carlos Nakai. Holland has also performed in Zion Canyon in Utah, Fort Walton Beach in Florida, Yosemite in California as well as Potomac, Maryland and many others including Melbourne Florida along with Autumn’s Child this coming November. The music of Autumn’s Child is one of a kind with the lead voice being the Native American Flute blending with cello lines and the colors and textures of various percussion instruments – Holland began a sound in 95 that soon influenced many other flute players. “I did things a bit backwards to most – in that I immediately saw how this flute could be used with other instruments and work within different genres of music. I guess you could say my calling with this flute has been to showcase the versatility of it. When most might look at this 6 hole or 5 hole flute and see limitations – I saw limitless possibilities.” Holland has created and published over 100 songs. A songbook of his music, “Songs for all Seasons” was published by the Oregon Flute Store. He has a signature series flute every year for the last 8 years made by Ed Hrebec of Spirit of the Woods Flutes. Mark also has a signature tea – “Autumn’s Child Tea – the flutie’s tea” made by Rod Jackson of Nuwati Herbals. His newest cd recorded with N. Scott Robinson called “Wind & Fire” has been recently nominated for an Indian Summer music award.
Several of his recordings have received such notoriety from various music awards. His music is also heard and featured on Echoes, a nationally syndicated radio program on PRI as well as on various airlines, including Frontier, US Airways, Jet Blue and others.
Holland is very excited about this newest project, “Balance”. He commented that in the writing of the songs on this album they came in pairs … it seemed that 2 songs were created at the same moment in time. Holland has always been highly influenced by fusion music. Genre-bending.
One can hear how the sound of Autumn’s Child is not easy to catagorize. It is not Native American nor is it purely new age or world fusion. It is a celebration of many sounds including these mentioned along with jazz, classical and folk influences. Other instruments that appear on the new cd include singing bowls, harp, bass, keyboards and more. “Balance” is on Holland’s Cedar n Sage Music label and will be available at the October 19 concert this night only for $10.
For more info on Mark Holland/Autumn’s Child visit www.autumnschild.com. For advance tickets visit www.metro-tix.com or call 314.534.1111. This will surely be a night to remember and a concert that should not be missed.