The highly accomplished vocalist, Mike Winkle, did Jimmy Mak a nice favor last
night: Winkle opened the set of his CD Release performance, beautifully
augmented by a superb band, and immediately the temperature in the room
soared. No heating bill for Jimmy this cold winter night! Winkle started off on
an eighteen tune, almost non-stop musical marathon with an up tempo "Nature
Boy" and there was no turning back. Already in this first tune, Mike established
himself solidly as a wonderfully controlled singer, able when necessary to
display a lovely vibrato one moment, and an almost Torme-like softness the
next, yet also to demonstrate an impressive set of strong pipes able to take a
melody flawlessly to a rousing crescendo. This man can sing!
What else was immediately obvious was the quality and variety in pianist, Joe
Millward's, precise and swinging arrangements, brought to vibrant life in
literally every number performed. That meant that a large and enthusiastic
audience was treated to Paul Mazzio's glorious flugelhorn riffs in a number of
tunes, Dan Schauffler's romping tenor on others, Dennis Caiazza 's strong bass
lines and tasty selected solos, nice deep tone baritone sax touches from
Winkle's daughter, Lynn, and all beautifully underpinned by Millward's fine and
imaginative piano work and Marty Higgins' solid, right-on drumming.
Impressive too was Mike Winkle's programming for the evening. He kicked off
the evening right on time and finished up exactly where he'd planned to! It was
a great ride, and included such gems as "You make Me Feel So Young," "Blame
It On My Youth" (beautifully and sweetly rendered by all,) a slow-tempo "If I
Only Had a Heart," a lovely original composition, "I Guess I Knew," nicely sung
and laced with a goose-bumper of a Mazzio solo, "100 Years," definitely a
Winkle kind of tune, allowing him to fully display his control and vocal range, a
Carole King ballad out of the sixties, and a shouter, "I Don't like You No More,"
a down and dirty Joe Williams gem. And more, including Al Green's "Let's Stay
Together" which had the crowd on its feet and singing nostalgically along!
It's always tempting when hearing singers to play the "sounds like" game. I
know I caught echoes of Bobby Darin, Mel Torme, Sinatra, and Jack Jones.
Nobody grows up in a vacuum: if we're alive, we absorb things. But what struck
me about Mike Winkle is that - at this juncture in a career that has included
forays in and out of various musical genres - he's a genuinely accomplished
jazz vocalist with a voice all his own. He knows how to use it, and has the
good sense and good fortune to have surrounded himself with an arranger and
a group of players that, together, produce a gorgeous sound! In my view, Mike
Winkle and the band are another high point on the Portland jazz scene! And I
stayed warm all the way home!
Bernie Knaub, Oregon Jazz Society, Club Scene Review, January 2008
Just when you’re sure that the male of the species has virtually disappeared
from the realm of quality jazz/pop singing, along comes Michael Winkle to set
your mind at ease. Michael’s new CD is a mixed bag of proven standards (“You
Make Me Feel So Young,” “Blame It On My Youth,” “Summertime” and perhaps
my favorite cut on the album, “If I Only Had A Heart”). But he also covers
some pop things from the past in “Fool On The Hill” and “Crazy Love” among
others. Certainly an album highlight is his composition, “The Only Dream That
Ever Mattered.” It has a contemporary feel and a lyric that tells of one of life’s
bitter lessons. Winkle is in excellent company here, singing with established
PDX cats like Joe Milward, piano; Scott Steed, bass; Paul Mazzio, trumpet;
Renato Caranto, tenor sax; and Jeff Uusitalo, trombone (not every guy on every
track). There’s something for just about every taste and preference on this
album. Michael Winkle manages to straddle the line between pop and jazz
without ever losing his balance. More info can be found at
www.michaelwinkle.com.
Self-produced, 2007, 45:37. George Fendel, Oregon Jazz Society Review,
January 2008
Michael,
I was driving down 99E a couple of years back and heard someone singing "For
All We Know" on KMHD. I called them the next day, they gave me your name,
and I promptly lost it. Then, a few weeks back I heard someone singing
"Summertime," again on KMHD, and I thought, "Man, can that guy sing." The
first name I thought of was "Donny Hathaway," but it sounded too new. The DJ
mentioned your name, but only when I Googled you did I realize it was the
same person I'd heard two years earlier. Anyway, I caught your CD release
performance at Jimmy Mak's and all I can say is, you're NOT just a studio
singer. Chet Baker was my avenue into Jazz, and since then my interests have
been, for the most part, confined to piano trios—Keith Jarrett's Standards trio
in particular. As for singers, Etta James, Tony Bennet, and Chet Baker really
get to me, but that's been about it. But I've honestly never heard a current
singer with your combination of control and soul, who also doesn't try simply to
appeal to nostalgia. Fantastic!
Anonymous KMHD Radio listener
Review of Michael’s 2004 release, “This Dance”
Portland singer Michael Winkle a stellar effort in debut CD!
This Dance with Michael Winkle, Michael Winkle, vocals.
Portland’s Michael Winkle has released his initial CD and has wisely chosen
great tunes with stellar arrangements and a wide array of the city’s finest
musicians. Winkle’s “not quite a tenor,-not quite a baritone” voice is
somewhere in the Chet Baker-Jim Ferguson arena and he’s most impressive on
tunes like Angel Eyes, Why Did I Choose You, For All We Know, Waltz For
Debby, Almost Like Being In Love, and more.
My “fave” was his own composition, I Guess I Knew. Had it been written in the
heyday of Songbook Americana, it would have been a major hit.
Self-produced, 2004;Playing time: Not indicated, ****
-George Fendel Oregon Jazz Scene January, 2005
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