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Mark
Dufresne |
 Sound Bites "The Stalker" "Addicted" |
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Biography When you hear Mark for the first time your tempted to assume that his harmonica is his power. His real Mojo, the magic that sustains and sets him apart from the others is his voice. He surrounds himself with incredible musicians. Billy Stapleton (guitar) is a whole show unto himself, but adding that voice and soulful mouth harp........... WOW Keith Church (The JazzDog) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- by Cathi Norton Can a boy who grew up listening to Allen Sherman, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Burl Ives really grow up to be a blues star? What if he throws in twisted infatuations with Frank Zappa, Capt. Beefheart, the Fugs, and disastrous encounters with organ playing? Mark Dufresne claims his only musical success as a youngster was his work as a choirboy in a Catholic school. It was there, he suggests, that his penchant for blues was born. "I have intimate association with all three main guilt groups," he chuckled. "I was born and raised a Catholic; went to a Southern Baptist college; and lived with a Jewish girl for three years." Born in Kansas City, Missouri on March 12, 1953, Dufresne didn't think much about music until he hit college, stumbled across a harmonica, and found he had a knack for playing it. Jamming with friends on any kind of music got him on stage now and then, but there just weren't many jobs for harp players. "It was a novelty instrument, unless you were a front guy and that wasn't me - 'You mean you have to TALK to people?'" Dufresne's first real gig was for $10 a night, three nights a week in a band called "Colt 45." "I hadn't really developed my tongue-blocking style then and played way too damn much" he recalls with a laugh. "I was combining Paul Butterfield with Charlie McCoy chops and of course practicing to see how FAST I could play!" Dufresne's early playing years were also marked by his search for a place to land. Moving from Kansas City to Washington State, back to Kansas, and then Minneapolis, he picked up gigs and honed his craft, yet nothing really felt like home. He finally landed in Seattle by way of Bellingham, Washington around 1981, where he worked small jobs and played music at night. "I had two college degrees (Physical Education and History) and I was washing dishes in the daytime and playing R & B at night!" No overnight success for this cat, but he was really hooked on blues by then--not only playing harp, but singing (a skill he didn't attempt until age 27). A pivotal experience with Big Walter (Horton), followed by impactful meetings with people like Kim Field and Rick Estrin, changed his mind and approach about playing and performing. No longer shy about fronting a band, Dufresne settled down to serious wood shedding (and 15 years on-and-off working at record stores). Hedging his employment bets, he also attended Pharmacy Tech School, graduated, and now teaches technicians at a vocational school. In 1993, he got serious about songwriting, discovering a love for it and a lyrical ability that speaks to audiences. As his playing developed, so did his opportunities. Though Dufresne describes the Northwest as not necessarily blues territory, it has allowed him to develop and complete three quality, independent, blues releases. "Out of That Bed" (1996), "Have Another Round" (1999), and "There's a Song in There" (a New Year's release featuring some of the "mafia" of the West Coast blues boys: Larry Taylor, Richard Innes, Fred Kaplan and Kid Ramos), have established Mark as a triple threat--songwriter, singer, and harp player. It's a tough combination to beat, come to via a hard road. Sounds like...the blues. |
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