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Jazz Articles about Mike Mainieri
Mike Mainieri: Man Behind Bars
by John Kelman
It's hard to imagine vibraphonist Mike Mainieri in his seventies. Not only does he look and sound like a man 10 years (or more) his junior, but a quick look at the projects he's been involved in over the past few years sound like anything but a septuagenarian resting on his not inconsiderable laurels. Mainieri may not have the instant name recognition of peers like Gary Burton, or even younger players like Joe Locke, Stefon Harris or Steve ...
Continue ReadingMike Mainieri / Marnix Busstra Quartet: Twelve Pieces
by Jerry D'Souza
The first meeting between vibraphonist Mike Mainieri and guitarist Marnix Busstra took place when Mainieri played on one of Busstra's earlier recordings. This led to a tour during which they looked at extending that musical relationship. One aspect would be different; they would collaborate in an acoustic setting, away from the electric projects they were currently involved in. From that seed of thought sprung this highly inventive recording. Each of the twelve pieces is a revelation in terms of development, ...
Continue ReadingMike Mainieri/Marnix Busstra Quartet: Twelve Pieces
by John Kelman
Released in Europe as the Marnix Busstra Trio featuring Mike Mainieri but in North America as the Mike Mainieri/Mike Busstra Quartet, the name change may reflect both vibraphonist Mainieri's significant involvement and his larger cachet, but Twelve Pieces remains a compelling look at this Netherlands-based guitarist. Less known on this side of the Atlantic, on the strength of this, his seventh release as a leader since 1995, Busstra certainly deserves a broader international audience.
Twelve Pieces ...
Continue ReadingTake Five With Mike Mainieri
by AAJ Staff
Meet Mike Mainieri: Primarily recognized as an award-winning jazz vibraphonist, Mike Mainieri's equally remarkable talents as producer, performer, arranger, and composer have contributed to shaping the cutting edge in music.
During '50s and early '60s, he performed with such legendary artists as Buddy Rich, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, and Wes Montgomery. At the age of 20, he won Down Beat's International Jazz Critic's Award.
In 1962, he joined the ground breaking jazz/rock group Jeremy & ...
Continue ReadingMike Mainieri: Northern Lights
by John Kelman
Vibraphonist Mike Mainieri has never garnered the same attention as Gary Burton, five years his junior, despite being equally cutting edge. Mainieri was one of fusion's early progenitors: Journey Through an Electric Tube (Solid State, 1968) and White Elephant (Solid State, 1969) explored new ways to incorporate a rock aesthetic with jazz. But while Burton has settled into a more mainstream comfort zone in recent years, Mainieri continues to test new waters. Northern Lights teams him with the “Norwegian Posse"--a ...
Continue ReadingSteps/Mike Mainieri: Smokin' in the Pit/An American Diary: The Dreamings
by David Adler
These two NYC Records releases document the musical evolution of label founder and vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. Smokin’ in the Pit, a reissue of a hard-to-find double live album by Mainieri’s jazz supergroup Steps, is stuck in its late 70s moment. It feels like cheap thrills compared to Mainieri’s most recent solo record, An American Diary: The Dreamings, which possesses a timeless quality and manages, despite its wild eclecticism, to tell a coherent and deeply personal story. This album, the second ...
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