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Enrico Granafei: It's Hard to Say Goodbye
by Nicholas F. Mondello
With It's Hard to Say Goodbye, multi-talented Italian guitarist and harmonica player, Enrico Granafei and a group of standouts offer eleven Latin-flavored jazz selections. The effort, recorded over an extended period, also features two artists who have unfortunately passed--trumpeter Claudio Roditi and pianist, Mike Longo. Granafei has dedicated the album to them and to the memory of Granafei's mentor, Toots Thielemans. “Claudinho," a Granafei original samba, opens the session. Upbeat in tempo, Granafei and Roditi make the ...
Continue ReadingThe Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician's Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White
by Richard J Salvucci
The Rhythm of Unity Mike and Dorothy Longo 237 Pages ISBN: 978-1956470741 Redwood 2023 Mike Longo was a distinguished pianist in spite of himself. He was a musicians' musician. He had little interest in celebrity. However much he needed to make a living, Mike spurned opportunities, like becoming Tony Bennett's pianist, that would have brought him to the attention of a wider audience. Longo was arguably one of Dizzy Gillespie's most dedicated students ...
Continue ReadingThe Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician’s Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White
by AAJ Staff
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 15 “Angel Of Love," from Mike & Dorothy Longo's The Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician's Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White (Redwood Publishing, 2023). It was 1966. Word had gotten out, and it felt as though everyone was complimenting me about my gig at the Embers West. Other musicians started to consider me as “one of the cats," and I started working around town with people like Hank Jones, ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo: Step On It
by Dan Bilawsky
If you want to hear what pianist Mike Longo enjoys, and how he thinks, you listen to his big band--The New York State Of The Art Jazz Ensemble--which is featured on Live From New York! (Consolidate Artists Productions, 2013); if you just want to hear Mike Longo, you listen to this trio. Step On It is the third go-round for this group, following Sting Like A Bee (Consolidated Artists Productions, 2009) and the trio-plus-guests To My Surprise ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo and the New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble: Live from New York!
by Jack Bowers
The fourth album by pianist Mike Longo's stalwart New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble is the first one recorded in front of an audience, in May 2013 at the New York City Baha'i Center's John Birks Gillespie Auditorium. On the one hand, Live from New York! offers the kind of spontaneity and high spirits a studio date seldom can; on the other, no less than three of its eight tracks are vocals, and their acceptance is a matter ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo and the New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble: Live From New York!
by Dan Bilawsky
When trumpet titan Dizzy Gillespie left this earth he left no shortage of disciples behind. His now-legendary peers (i.e. saxophonists Jimmy Heath and Benny Golson), a cadre of killer Cubans (Arturo Sandoval, multi-reedist Paquito D'Rivera, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, etc.) and a pride of young lions all worked with him, learned from him, and sang his praises, both before and after he departed; so did/does pianist Mike Longo, though too few people seem to recognize him. Part of ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo Trio + 2: To My Surprise
by Edward Blanco
Though veteran jazz pianist Mike Longo has a long and distinguished career that includes a 25-year association with the legendary Dizzy Gillespie, To My Surprise documents only the second recording with his existing trio. This follow-up to his very successful Sting Like A Bee (Consolidated Artist Production, 2009), features the same lineup of bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Lewis Nash as the core trio, but a major difference is the inclusion of trumpet luminary Jimmy Owens and tenor saxophonist Lance ...
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