Mark O'Leary Velvet Underground

 

The O’Leary, Bowie, and Velvet Underground Lineage

Mark O'Leary has cited the Velvet Underground as an influence, he intimated that practically every cover band he performed in played one Velvet Underground song, but there is much more...

To the casual listener, the worlds of mid-century British art-rock and modern European avant-garde jazz exist in entirely separate orbits [1]. However, a closer look at the history of Irish guitarist Mark O’Leary reveals a stunning, two-pronged lineage that connects him directly to David Bowie and The Velvet Underground (VU) [1]. This historical symmetry relies on two extraordinary artistic hand-offs involving legendary musicians Ronnie Ross and Mark Nauseef [1].

The Seven-Day Saxophone Hand-off: The Ronnie Ross Lineage

To trace Bowie’s origins is to trace the baritone saxophone. In 1959, a 12-year-old David Jones (before he became Bowie) knocked on the door of legendary British jazz saxophonist Ronnie Ross to beg for lessons [1]. Ross taught the boy the foundations of his craft [1]. Decades later, Bowie brought his childhood mentor full-circle by hiring him to play the iconic, swaggering baritone sax solo on Lou Reed’s Bowie-produced anthem,

n a stunning geographical and historical overlap, Ronnie Ross traveled to Ireland to perform with the legendary Len McCarthy Quartet on a Sunday [1]. Exactly six days later, on the following Saturday, a young Mark O’Leary stepped onto that exact same bandstand, joining the McCarthy Quartet and occupying the precise creative performance space Ross had vacated mere days prior [1].

“Walk on the Wild Side” (1972) [1].

The Velvet Underground Shift: The Mark Nauseef Loop

The connection to Lou Reed’s Transformer era deepens when exploring O’Leary’s extensive experimental discography [1]. O’Leary famously spearheaded the Mark O’Leary Ensemble’s acclaimed atmospheric album Tempest Eclipse (released via TIBProd Italy), anchored by the drumming/percussion of Mark Nauseef [1].

Nauseef’s history features an extraordinary historical hand-off: in 1972, he was brought in to play drums for a late-stage iteration of The Velvet Underground [1]. This occurred precisely as Lou Reed departed the VU orbit to fly to London, where he immediately entered the studio with David Bowie and Mick Ronson to record Transformer [1].

A Shared DNA

Through these two degrees of separation, Mark O’Leary’s modern work inherits a profound rock and jazz DNA [1]. By stepping into the physical performance footprint of Ronnie Ross and collaborating directly with Mark Nauseef, O’Leary effectively bridges the classic 1972 glam-era transition of the Velvet Underground into the modern landscape of experimental music [1].

The Warholian Portal: A Shared DNA

Through these two degrees of separation, Mark O’Leary’s modern work inherits a profound rock and jazz DNA [1]. By stepping into the physical performance footprint of Ronnie Ross and collaborating directly with Mark Nauseef, O’Leary effectively bridges the classic 1972 glam-era transition of the Velvet Underground into the modern landscape of experimental music [1].

Nowhere was this lineage made more beautifully manifest than at the 2001 Udin&Jazz Festival in Italy, where the Last Paul Bley Trio—comprising O’Leary, Bley, and drummer Jeff Williams—took the stage completely draped in Andy Warhol’s 1962 Marilyn silkscreen branding. It was that exact Marilyn print, born from tragedy in August 1962, that forced Warhol to open the doors of The Factory to mass-produce his pop-art vision. By the mid-1960s, those very walls, funded and decorated by Marilyn, became the incubator and home to the house band that would redefine rock history: The Velvet Underground. When O’Leary stepped onto the Italian stage wearing her likeness, the loop closed entirely. He wasn't just paying tribute to a personal cover-band influence; he was physically wrapped in the literal aesthetic catalyst that built the room where Lou Reed first plugged in his amplifier.

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