Mike Melvoin

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Michael "Mike" Melvoin (born May 10, 1937 in Oshkosh , Wisconsin , † February 22, 2012 in Burbank , California ) was an American jazz pianist , arranger and composer .

Live and act

Mike Melvoin started playing the piano at the age of three. He first studied English at Dartmouth College , where he graduated in 1959, but then decided to pursue a career as a jazz musician. After moving to Los Angeles in 1961, he worked with Frank Rosolino , Leroy Vinnegar , Gerald Wilson , Paul Horn , Terry Gibbs , Joe Williams , Peggy Lee and Tom Waits . Mostly he worked as a studio musician; He worked on recordings by Milt Jackson , Gábor Szabó , Stan Getz , Frank Sinatra , Natalie Cole , Helen Reddy , John Lennon ( Stand By Me ), Barbra Streisand , Quincy Jones , Michael Jackson , Tom Waits, Lalo Schifrin and the Pet Sounds -Sessions 1966 with the Beach Boys . He worked as an arranger for The Ventures . He was also the first active musician to serve as the National Chairman of the Recording Academy . He also played in clubs in Los Angeles, accompanied the singer Bill Henderson and took part in the recordings of Herb Ellis and Plas Johnson at Concord Jazz .

Melvoin was married to Constance Lula Ives (* December 31, 1936 - May 7, 2020) and had three children with her; her son Jonathan (* 1961; † 1996) was keyboardist in the US band The Smashing Pumpkins and the twins Susannah and Wendy (* 1964) are members of the band The Revolution , which was founded by Prince in the 1980s .

Discographic notes

Recordings under your own name

  • Keys to Your Mind ( Liberty Records , 1966)
  • Between the Two (Liberty, 1968)
  • The Plastic Cow Goes Moooooog ( Dot Records , 1969)
  • Unknown Title (Discwasher, 1979)
  • Redeye (Voss Records, 1988)
  • The Capitol Sessions (with Bill Henderson and Charlie Haden ) (Naim, 1999)
  • Oh Baby (City Light, 2002)
  • It's Always You (with Phil Woods ) (City Light, 2003)
  • Like Jazz (with David Basse) (City Light, 2003)
  • Playing the Word (City Light, 2006)
  • You Know (City Light, 2006)

Recordings as an accompanist

With Milt Jackson

With Gábor Szabó

  • Light My Fire (Impulse !, 1967) with Bob Thiele
  • Wind, Sky and Diamonds (Impulse !, 1967)
  • 1969 (Skye, 1969)

With Tom Waits

  • Nighthawks at the Diner (Asylum, 1975)

Filmography

Lexical entries

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Obituary in Los Angeles Times
personal data
SURNAME Melvoin, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melvoin, Michael (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist, arranger and composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Oshkosh , Wisconsin
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 2012
Place of death Burbank , California