Mike Freeman

Musician - Composer - Bandleader - Recording Artist - Producer - Educator - Arts Advocate

From Omaha, to Chicago, to Hell's Kitchen, NYC, Mike Freeman is the vibesman behind several notable groups and leader of ZonaVibe.

With spirited soulful swing rooted in Afro-Cuban clave, Freeman creates a distinct brand of mambo and salsa infused jazz. Dee Dee McNeil of Making A Scene says, “His original compositions entice me to the dance floor. Mike Freeman’s melodies are beautiful and catchy.” Freeman’s music comes from his background as a drummer and percussionist in his youth along with decades performing and recording on vibraphone with high profile Latinjazz and salsa groups in the Bronx and Spanish Harlem.

Freeman's performances have taken him from North America and Europe to the Azores, Caribbean, and South America. His recordings of original music received numerous outstanding reviews, radio airplay charting on jazz, contemporary jazz, and World Music radio, and aired on nationally syndicated radio shows (Latin Perspective, Tony Vasquez; Jazz after Hours, Jim Wilke; The Jazz Show David Sanborn; WOR radio network, Joey Reynolds; Music Choice; and United Airlines).

Freeman is a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement grant recipient for: Hell's Kitchen Vibe-Centric, Boricua Blues, Hell’s Kitchen Soul Sauce, and Latin Music In Hell’s Kitchen. Performances included guest legends Ray Mantilla and Jose Mangual Jr. performing at the Times Center, Highline, Pier 84, Bella Abzug Park, Riverbank State Park, and Dimenna Center in NYC. The concert productions highlighted the once-thriving Latin music record businesses in Hell’s Kitchen, music of high profile groups Freeman has been a part of, the tradition of vibraphone in Latin music, and his original music born from that tradition. He produced two Band Together benefit concerts: one for musicians affected by hurricane Maria with proceeds going to the Jazz Foundation of America and the other in response to Hurricane Katrina, benefitting the Tipitinas Foundation and New Orleans–area musicians.

Freeman moved to a ground floor apartment on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood during the crack epidemic of the 1980’s. The neighborhood was rough, but for the adventurous creative people who lived there at the time, it was an affordable place to create and exchange ideas. The area has undergone a dramatic transformation since then and Freeman has now become a keeper of neighborhood history and an advocate for musicians on local issues.

Commissioned work includes a decade-long series of compositions and arrangements for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Percussion Scholarship Program. In 2014 he was commissioned by the late drummer/educator Ed Uribe to write arrangements for China's national percussion curriculum that were performed by members of the Shanghai Symphony at Shanghai Symphony Hall.

Performance highlights for Freeman as a leader include; the Dimenna Center, NYC; the Jazz Showcase, Chicago; White Plains Jazz Festival, NY; the Fox Jazz Festival and Riverfront Jazz Festival, WI; the Trinidad & Tobago Steelpan & Jazz Festival; Festival Internacional, Terciera, Azores; Central Park’s Harlem Meer concert series, NY; performing for Flood Relief in Des Moines, IA; Jazz on the Green in Omaha, NE; the Berks, Rehoboth Beach, Hennessy Greenwich Village, and JVC Newport (at Saratoga) jazz festivals; the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) convention, and an extensive tour of Portugal, cosponsored by the Fulbright Foundation and the American Embassy (USIA), where he received the Medal of the City of Guarda.

Freeman is also known for his work and recordings with several acclaimed groups. The vibes behind the name, he worked extensively with legendary percussionist Ray Mantilla’s Good Vibrations Band (touring much of Italy). Good Vibrations, Savant Records, was Jazzweek's top Latinjazz recording on radio in 2006. Freeman is also featured on Ray’s final two recordings High Voltage, and Rebirth both on Savant. He was part of Lucho Cueto’s all-star group Black Sugar. Their recording Estamos Azucar led to blockbuster performances for thousands at the Toros Y Salsa Festival in Dax, France, and at the Festival Internacional de Salsa in Lima, Peru. For twenty years he's been a mainstay of Jose Mangual Jr.’s Son Boricua featuring the late Jimmy Sabater (an architect of Boogaloo) that performed for large gatherings at salsa congresses in New York, L.A., and Atlanta. His vibe work can also be heard with Mark Holen’s eclectic Latin blues band Zambomba. In the 1990s he created the book for, and performed with, Jorge Jimenez’s salsa group Timba Vibes. This was followed by a twenty-year association with salsa singer Julio Salgado, culminating with the recording Mis Pasos. He performed with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (directed by Oscar Hernandez) at Madison Square Garden and with Willie Villegas's Joe Cuba Sextet for New Jersey's salsa congress, both with legendary sonero Cheo Feliciano.

Awards

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Creative Engagement Grantee, 2025, 2022, 2021, 2019
United States Information Agency, Recommended Evaluation 1985
Toured Portugal on a grant from the Fulbright Foundation and The American Embassy in Portugal, 1985.
Medal of the City of Guarda, Portugal, 1985.
Mid-America Arts Alliance, Meet The Composer Grant 1985

Gear

Vibraphone, Mallets, Finale, ProTools & Creative Mind.