Mike Longo

Michael Joseph "Mike" Longo ( born March 19, 1939 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American composer and pianist of the modern jazz.

Life and work

Longo comes from a musical family: his mother was a pianist and leader of a church choir and his father was a bass player. Age of three he began piano lessons. At 15, he played in his father's band in Fort Lauderdale, but also with the band by Cannonball Adderley and in various R & B bands and the orchestras of Hal McIntyre. He graduated in 1959 to study music at Western Kentucky University and then moved to New York City. There, in the " metropolis ", he was next to Red Allen and Coleman Hawkins House musician. In 1961, he went to Toronto to study with Oscar Peterson. Back in New York, he founded his own trio with Paul Chambers and drummer Chuck Lampkin, with whom he also accompanied singers such as Nancy Wilson, Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams and soloists such as Roy Eldridge and Zoot Sims. Then took him Dizzy Gillespie in his band, musical director, he was until 1973. During this time he took private lessons in composition from Gaskin Fields and Hall Overton and enriched with titles such as " Frisco " the band played. He also played with James Moody and Buddy Rich. A fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, he wrote a string quartet; in addition, he led his own groups and worked as a lecturer at the New School. He has written widely used textbooks such as " The Improvised Melodic Line" or " Theory and Musicianship For the Creative Jazz Improviser ". Longo leads weekly jazz sessions at the New York Baha'i Center in honor of Gillespie, a tradition which he co-founded. As Gillespie ( and Moody ) he is a member of the Baha'i faith.

Discography

• The Awakening (1972 )
• Solo Recital (1986 )
• I Miss You (1995 )
• Still Swingin ' (2001)
• Mike Longo Trio 2: To My Surprise ( Consolidated Artists, 2011), with Bob Cranshaw, Lewis Nash, Jimmy Owens, Lance Bryant