Jazz Articles about Mike King

About Mike King

Album Review

Christian McBride & Ursa major: Points of Light

Read "Points of Light" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
October 28, 2026

Every great hostess knows that who you invite incites the party. And when is there not a party goin' on at a Christian McBride new jawn? Which is what, coincidentally, happens to be Points of Light, the hot debut of Ursa Major. For the invitees--the midnight intensity of tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, the perpetual rhythm of drummer Savannah Harris, overactive pianist/keyboardist Mike King, the mod, t-bone blues of guitarist (Ely Perlman aided and abetted by keyboardist, producer Terrace Martin and ...

Album Review

Christian McBride and Ursa Major: Points of Light

Read "Points of Light" reviewed by Andrew Schinder

by Andrew Schinder
October 7, 2026

Bass superstar Christian McBride seemingly has an infinite number of active projects at any given moment, but his group Ursa Major may be his most exciting. With Ursa Major, McBride leads a group of dynamic young musicians whose collective mission is to essentially fulfill McBride's creative impulses--an “all-in" band, as McBride has described it. Over the course of his distinguished career McBride has seemingly explored every jazz and jazz-adjacent genre and sub-genre out there, and he created Ursa Major to tie all ...

Album Review

Trombocalist Big Band: The Vigil and the Sleeping Giant

Read "The Vigil and the Sleeping Giant" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 18, 2026

Even those whose batting averages are high are not immune from life's unforeseen and often disastrous curve balls. Low-brass multi-instrumentalist Ron Wilkins, riding the wave as a successful musician and bandleader, learned that the hard way when he was struck by Covid in 2020 and spent more than a month in a medically induced coma with the outcome clearly in doubt. As it turns out, fortune smiled on Wilkins, and after relearning such basics as breathing normally, walking, ...

Album Review

Theo Bleckmann: Love and Anger

Read "Love and Anger" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
April 21, 2026

Nella ristretta cerchia dei cantanti jazz maschili Theo Bleckmann s'è distinto per la cifra eclettica che l'ha portato a spaziare in quasi ogni ambito musicale: dagli standard del songbook statunitense alla sperimentazione vocale, dal pop al gospel, dal rock alla classica. Residente a New York dall'età di 23 anni, dopo gli studi di canto jazz in Germania Theo è rapidamente maturato dopo la collaborazione del 1994 con Meredith Monk, con cui ha affinato la tecnica vocale e consolidato l'innata spinta di ...