“On ‘Hidden Hill’ Mark Wyand demonstrates his talent as a master of sensitive ballads. Soft and tender pieces that invite the listener into a dream world, these are tracks to lose yourself in.”
(Audio)

“If we were to call Mark Wyand's new CD deeply romantic, people might get the wrong impression. You know: a tenor sax playing ballads, people with money standing by the fireplace with a glass of wine…that kind of thing. But the contemplative album "Hidden Hill" is romantic in the sense of the late 18th century German writer Novalis. Day-to-day things take on a higher meaning, the familiar gains the dignity of the unfamiliar – such as the player's breath that we hear flowing through the saxophone. Or the single note that urgently needs to be played. And it's with a single note that the whole thing starts. An A, repeated with gentle insistence by the Swedish pianist Daniel Karlsson, forms the foundation for a wondrous piece entitled "Kriyaban", with an oddly abstract theme consisting of unexpected, droll phrases and quiet, suppressed overblows. Minimalism and reduction – that's the programme of this CD. The focus is on details, such as John Hollenbeck's muted percussion playing with its crystal-clear figures on the cymbal. Or in the expanses of Frank Möbus's guitar and the bass lines that Dieter Ilg confines to essentials. An invisible fog enshrouds the eleven tracks on "Hidden Hill", which include, alongside Wyand's own compositions, arrangements of two pop songs by Björk and Goldfrapp, and two standards from the American Songbook. One cannot help but think of Caspar David Friedrich and of Charles Lloyd, the nature mystic among contemporary jazz musicians. Mark Wyand seems to be close to finding the blue flower on his own secret hill. The sax player, who was born in England but grew up in Germany, is certainly a romantic with a future.”
(Rondo online)

“A journey in pictures of sublime finesse. Mark Wyand manages to unite such disparate compositions as the Johnny Mercer/Jerome Kern standard "Dearly beloved" and Björk's pop elegy "Jóga" into a coherent and logical aesthetic concept. This outstanding album is in a class of its own.”
(Jazzpodium)

“Mark Wyand has width and infinity in the sonorous sound of his tenor saxophone. He also has a deep vein of romance as well, as you can see in the themes of his compositions.”
(Rhein-Neckar Zeitung, 03/2005)