Mike Longo

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Michael Joseph "Mike" Longo (born March 19, 1939 in Cincinnati , Ohio , † March 22, 2020 in New York City , New York ) was an American musician ( piano , composition ) of modern jazz .

Live and act

Longo came from a musical family: his mother was a pianist and director of a church choir and his father was a bassist. He received piano lessons at the age of three. At the age of 15 he played in his father's band in Fort Lauderdale , but also with the band of Cannonball Adderley and in various R&B bands and the orchestra of Hal McIntyre . He graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1959 and then moved to New York City . In the “ Metropole Cafe ” there, he became a resident musician alongside Red Allen and Coleman Hawkins . In 1961 he went to Toronto to take lessons from Oscar Peterson .

Back in New York, Longo 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 as well as soloists such as Roy Eldridge and Zoot Sims . Then Dizzy Gillespie brought him into his band, of which he was musical director until 1973. During this time he took private composition lessons with Gaskin Fields and Hall Overton and enriched the band's repertoire with titles such as "Frisco". He also played with James Moody and Buddy Rich . As a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts , he wrote a string quartet. He also led his own groups such as the large-format New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble , with which he has released four albums since 2000. He also worked as a lecturer at the New School . He wrote widely used textbooks such as "The Improvised Melodic Line" or "Theory and Musicianship for the Creative Jazz Improviser".

Longo held weekly jam sessions at the New York Bahai Center in honor of Gillespie: a tradition he co-founded. Like Gillespie (and Moody), he was a member of the Baha'i community. Longo died in March 2020 as a result of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Discographic notes

  • 1972: The Awakening
  • 1973: Piano Giants (with Chick Corea)
  • 1973: Funkia
  • 1974: 900 shares of the blue
  • 1976: Talk with the Spirits
  • 1986: Solo recital
  • 2000: Explosion (Mike Longo & New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble)
  • 2001: Still Swingin '
  • 2011: To My Surprise (Mike Longo Trio + 2, with Bob Cranshaw , Lewis Nash , Jimmy Owens , Lance Bryant )
  • 2017: Only Time Will Tell

Lexical entry

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary. wbgo.org, March 23, 2020, accessed on March 24, 2020 .
  2. ^ New York Bahá'í Center
  3. ↑ All About Jazz, Guides - Venue Listing - Baha'i Center ( Memento from November 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ JazzTrenzz: Between Sets with Mike Longo (archived)
personal data
SURNAME Longo, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Longo, Michael Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Cincinnati , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 2020
Place of death New York City , New York