Mark McLean (born February 5, 1975) is a Canadian musician, drummer, composer, lyricist and

studio musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...

. McLean lives and works primarily in New York. He has released three albums under his own name. The first showcases his arrangements of jazz standards while his later albums are original material (except one song). His very early influence was his father's record collection, which included every genre: from Johann Sebastian Bach to James Brown. McLean is becoming known as the "drum whisperer" in part because he can coax organic sounds out of any drum kit. McLean is musically multilingual:

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, pop or any genre required for the song. McLean's great uncle, Cy McLean was one of the first black band leaders in Canada. His brother Lester McLean is an accomplished saxophonist and vocalist in the

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

jazz and

RnB RNB may refer to: * Nankai Broadcasting (''R''adio ''N''ankai ''B''roadcasting), a broadcasting station in Ehime Prefecture, Japan * Russian National Library * RNB Global University, in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India * "RNB" (song), a song by Young Dol ...

scene. McLean began his career at age nine as a gifted classical pianist, but by age 14 had started a second career playing the drums. By the time he was 18, the drums eclipsed the piano as McLean's voice for musical expression and the age of 22 he was playing with fellow Canadian and jazz icon,

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

. McLean graduated with honors from The

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

with a bachelor's in performance in jazz. In his third year faculty member Don Thompson invited him to play on the first of the more than 70 recordings on which McLean appears. He was also named "Post-secondary Musician of the Year" by the Jazz Report Magazine in 1998. That summer McLean taught at Canada's Interprovincial Music Camp (jazz). He was also the jazz director at Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute while taking his undergraduate degree. McLean's recording and touring highlights include

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Will ...

Joe Sample Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American jazz keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, whose name was shortened to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained a p ...

Jamie Cullum Jamie Paul Joseph Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, pianist, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He h ...

Andy Bey Andrew Wideman Bey Jr. (October 28, 1939 – April 26, 2025) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Bey had a wide vocal range, with a four-octave baritone voice. Raised in Newark, New Jersey,Adler, David R"Andy Bey" ''JazzTimes'', April 25, ...

Molly Johnson Margaret Leslie "Molly" Johnson, Order of Canada, OC is a Canadian singer of pop and jazz. Biography Johnson began as a child performer, receiving formal training from the National Ballet School and the Banff School of Fine Arts. Johnson's b ...

Peter Cincotti Peter Cincotti (born July 11, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter. He began playing piano at the age of three. While in high school, he regularly performed in clubs throughout Manhattan. In 2003, Cincotti's debut album, produced by Phil Ramon ...

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor. He rose to fame in 1994 after winning the newcomers' section of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival performing " Il mare calmo della sera". Since 1994, Bocelli has recorded 15 solo st ...

Serena Ryder Serena Lauren Ryder (born December 8, 1982) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Toronto, she grew up in Millbrook, Ontario. Ryder first gained national recognition with her ballad "Weak in the Knees" in 2007 and has released eight studio ...

, Catherine Russell,

Jane Bunnett Mary Jane Bunnett, (born October 22, 1956) is a Canadian musician and educator. A soprano saxophonist, flautist and bandleader, she is especially known for performing Afro-Cuban jazz. She travels regularly to Cuba to perform with Cuban musicians. ...

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Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...

and

Michael Kaeshammer Michael Kaeshammer (born 7 January 1977) is a Canadian jazz and boogie-woogie pianist. Early life and education Kaeshammer grew up in Offenburg, Germany, where he studied classical piano for seven years. At age thirteen, he became interested i ...

. McLean has two movie appearances: Drummer in Peter Cincotti band in ''Spider-Man 2'' (uncredited) and ''Peter Cincotti: Live in New York'' (credited). McLean is endorsed by

Regal Tip Regal Tip is one of the world's largest manufacturers of drum sticks and other percussion mallets. They produce a range of beaters, but are particularly noted as a manufacturer of premium steel brushes and nylon tipped drumsticks. In 2003, the c ...

Mallets and Brushes,

Zildjian The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the com ...

Sticks and Cymbals, Remo drum heads and

Yamaha Drums Yamaha Drums is a subsidiary of the Yamaha Corporation founded in 1967. The company manufactures acoustic and electronic drum kits as well as percussion instruments, marching band equipment, and drum hardware. Production Most of Yamaha's drums ...

New York

McLean moved to New York City in 1999 following receipt of a grant awarded him by the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

. Initially, McLean wanted to study with drummer,

Brian Blade Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, and session musician. Early life Born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, Blade was exposed to gospel and praise music while attending Zion Baptist Church at which his ...

. Although he did not teach, Blade mentored McLean by allowing him to observe his performances. He even helped him shop for a drum kit and as luck would have it, they walked into Drummer's World on 46th street in Manhattan and met jazz drummer, archivist and radio personality, Kenny Washington. Blade said to McLean "this is who you should study with." McLean studied with Kenny Washington for a year followed by an additional year with drummer Billy Kilson. After that McLean decided to stay for future opportunities in New York. Singer and pianist

was the first to call, then

Dewey Redman Walter Dewey Redman (May 17, 1931 – September 2, 2006) was an American saxophonist who performed free jazz as a bandleader with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett. Redman mainly played tenor saxophone, though he occasionally also played alto s ...

Work with other artists

McLean has worked with many of jazz masters and pop icons, including

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young ...

Michael Feinstein Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music Revivalist artist, revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Spec ...

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

Diana Krall Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, ''Billboard (magazi ...

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

Carla Cook Carla Cook is an American jazz vocalist. Biography Cook was drawn to a life of music at an early age. As a student at Cass Technical High School she played string bass in the school orchestra, studied piano and voice on weekends, and sang ...

Linda Eder Linda Eder (; born February 3, 1961) is an American singer and actress. She originated the role of Lucy Harris in the Broadway musical '' Jekyll & Hyde'', for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award. Biography Eder was born in Tucso ...

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He achieved success at an early age, winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the age of 21. During his career, he established himself as one of Am ...

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later Vanes ...

Patti Austin Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American Grammy Award-winning R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter best known for " Baby, Come to Me", her 1982 duet with James Ingram, which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 after its re-release ...

, the

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...

and producer

Phil Ramone Philip Rabinowitz (January 5, 1934March 30, 2013), better known as Phil Ramone, was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, and co-founder of A & R recording studio. Its success led to expansion ...

. He also served as arranger on

's 2009 Juno-award-winning album Lucky, and was co-arranger on

Sophie Milman Sophie Milman (born 1983) is a Russian-born Canadian jazz vocalist. After emigrating from Russia in the early 1990s, Milman, who is Jewish, spent most of her childhood years in Israel where she listened extensively to jazz. Her family later em ...

's 2009 release ''Take Love Easy'', while continuing to tour and record as a member of

's band. Producer

following a recording session with

remarked: "Mark McLean is a tasty, sure handed drummer, a song man’s musician."

described McLean as "an intelligent, immensely talented young musician with a curious mind and a listening ear."

Albums

Reviews and awards

Session work

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Mark 1975 births Canadian jazz composers Canadian male jazz composers Canadian jazz drummers Canadian male drummers Canadian record producers Canadian male songwriters Living people Musicians from Toronto People from North York University of Toronto people Canadian male pianists 21st-century Canadian pianists 21st-century Canadian drummers 21st-century Canadian male musicians