Mark Sullivan is a guitarist based in Charlotte who is originally from Detroit. He begins playing guitar in the 1960s as a teenager, influenced by Jimi Hendrix and the fuzz-toned sound of Hendrix’s playing.

Musical development

Sullivan develops an interest in early effects pedals and combines that with formal study of composition at the University of Michigan. During that period, he studies electronic composers including Xenakis, Stockhausen and Cage. He later finds the strictness and obscurity of the avant garde limiting, and turns towards the electric jazz experiments of Miles Davis from the late 1960s.

In electric jazz ensembles, Sullivan finds a setting that lets him work with electronics and modern composition while also improvising in a rhythmic format. He continues to play in groups and interpret the music of Coltrane, Davis and Monk, but the cost of maintaining a working ensemble leads him in the 1970s to focus on solo performance.

Solo work

For his solo playing, Sullivan uses delay effects inspired by the tape-delay systems associated with Brian Eno and Robert Fripp’s early 1970s collaborations. This approach lets him build layered, textural pieces that recall the pulse-driven minimalism of Reich and Glass. The delay-loop patterns also provide a backdrop for improvisation, which he moves between meditative and intense.