Mark Orton is the guitarist in the chamber jazz group
Tin Hat Trio and is also a professional recording and sound engineer who has worked on sessions with
Bill Frisell,
John Zorn, and
the Lounge Lizards and engineered the sound at the Knitting Factory for a couple of years.
Orton plays banjo, lute, Dobro, lap steel, and electric guitar with his other group, San Fransisco's
Old Joe Clarks, and has composed scores for independent films like Beverly Wachtel's Just Noticeable Difference. In the late '90s, he co-founded the
Tin Hat Trio with accordionist
Rob Burger and violinist
Carla Kihlstedt. The group's music is a unique blend of structure, improvisation, and contemporary classical, with folk, world, and jazz elements. The
Tin Hat Trio's recording debut,
Memory Is an Elephant, came out in early 1992 on Angel Records, and
Helium followed in spring 2000. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide