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Mike Longo Trio: Sting Like A Bee
by Marcia Hillman
Sting Like A Bee is pianist Mike Longo's follow-up to his well-received Float Like A Butterfly (Consolidated Artists Productions, 2008). Bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Lewis Nash join him, and this CD is so laidback and relaxed that it comes as no surprise to read in the liner notes that there was no need to listen to any playbacks. This offering is a tribute to two mentors: Oscar Peterson, with whom he studied for a time as a private student, ...
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by Jack Bowers
Mike Longo, who studied piano with Oscar Peterson and served for a number of years as Dizzy Gillespie's pianist and music director, brings that experience and more to Sting Like a Bee, the follow-up to his well-received trio session from 2007, Float Like a Butterfly (Consolidated Artists Productions). While there's a different backup crew this time, it would be hard to envision a more virtuosic or compatible duo than bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Lewis Nash. Playing with Longo for ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo Trio: Sting Like A Bee
by Edward Blanco
Pianist Mike Longo has a couple of things in common with legendary heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali: first, they both employed the same phrase throughout their careers--"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee"--and second,, they both deliver quite a punch, Ali with his fists and Longo on the keys. Sting Like a Bee--dedicated to Longo's father, who passed away in 2009--is Longo's follow-up to Float Like a Butterfly (Consolidated Artist Productions, 2007) and does not pull any punches, providing quite ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo Trio: Float Like A Butterfly
by Marcia Hillman
The title of this CD says it all--the Mike Longo Trio (Longo on piano, Paul West on bass and Jimmy Wormworth on drums) takes music on a smooth flight just like a butterfly, delighting with every track. Longo is probably one of the most underappreciated jazz pianists around. His musical history includes studying with the late Oscar Peterson (a major inspiration), playing in the Dizzy Gillespie quintet and eventually serving as Gillespie's musical director, all leading to the ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo: Float Like a Butterfly
by Hrayr Attarian
When an essential element is missing from a recording, even the highest quality of musicianship cannot make up for its absence. There is no doubt that Mike Longo and his trio, featuring bassist Paul West and drummer Jimmy Wormworth, are musicians and improvisers of the first order, but on Float Like a Butterfly one cannot shake the sense that an important ingredient is absent.
On most of the pieces one waits for a horn player to enter the ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo Trio: Float Like a Butterfly
by Jack Bowers
In 1961, while performing in Chicago, pianist Mike Longo was introduced to one of his musical heroes, Oscar Peterson. After hearing him play, Peterson invited Longo to study with him at the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto. Needless to say, Longo accepted eagerly, and spent six months absorbing wisdom from the master. It's an experience he still considers “the most important step in [his] life, one that led to Longo's successful alliance with Dizzy Gillespie, first as pianist ...
Continue ReadingMike Longo's New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble: Oasis
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
The golden age of big bands ebbed long ago and the economics and logistics of maintaining large groups in today's music climate make a comeback unlikely. Despite these difficulties, there are champions of the big band--those who don't assemble all-star groupings merely for one-offs, but develop their music with a stable band. One such standard bearer, pianist Mike Longo, leads his seventeen-piece New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble on their third CD, Oasis. Working with four ...
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