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Mike Karn
axophonist and bassist Michael Karn has been involved in the New York jazz scene for more than 20 years, and in that time he has worked with many of the music worlds most creative artists.
Michael started in music as a tenor saxophonist, and after graduating high school he attended New York University, where his teachers were Joe Lovano and Jim McNeely. After college Michael immediately joined the Ray Charles Orchestra, and spent 1988 and '89 touring the United States, Europe, and Japan. Michael appeared with Ray at the Northsea and Playboy Jazz Festivals, and at such venues as the Blue Note, The Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, and the Wolftrap Center for the Performing Arts.
At the beginning of 1990 Michael resettled in New York, and since then he has been both a member of several top-flight ensembles, and an in-demand freelancer. In 1997, Michael began working with organ powerhouse Charles Earland, remaining with The Mighty Burner until his untimely death in late 1999. Michael toured extensively with Earland, and appears on two CD releases on the Highnote label, Stomp and Irene Reid s The Uptown Lowdown, which features the former Count Basie vocalist singing in front of Earland's band. At the same time, Michael worked with former Jazz Messenger Valery Ponamarev in a band that included drum legend Jimmy Cobb. This association resulted in a recording on the Reservoir label entitled The Messenger. In late 2001, Michael joined the big band of Harry Connick Jr., participating in several tours of the United States and Canada. In his five and a half years with Harry, Michael, appeared at the 2004 Newport Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center, and the Grand Ole Opry, as well as making numerous television appearances in the U.S. and England, several of them as a featured soloist. He appears on four of Harrys CDs, Only You, Harry For The Holidays, Oh, My Nola, and Chanson Du Vieux Carre, as well as two DVDs, Harry For The Holidays and Only You In Concert. A small sampling of Michaels freelance credits includes performances and/or recordings with Andy Bey, Harold Mabern, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Dave Liebman, Danny Moore, Junior Mance, Hilton Ruiz, Larry Goldings, Mike LeDonne, Michael Weiss, Albert Tootie Heath, Billy Hart, Lenny White, Charlie Persip, Killer Ray Appleton, Ben Allison, Joey DeFrancesco, Bill Doggett, and even Run/DMC. In addition to his sideman work, Michael is a bandleader and composer in his own right, and his groups have been featured at clubs, festivals and universities in New York and throughout the country. He has also released two CD's as a leader, both on the Criss Cross Jazz label. "Head To Head" is a rousing two tenor date with Jerry Weldon, and "In Focus" finds Michael sharing the front line with guitarist Peter Bernstein. Both albums were well reviewed in periodicals such as Down Beat, The All-Music Guide and Cadence, and recieved significant airplay in both the New York area and nation-wide.
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Robert Edwards: Up Swing
by Edward Blanco
Veteran trombonist, educator and bandleader Robert Edwards is a fixture of New York City jazz scene, performing in many of the jazz venues in the city and, as of this writing, becoming the newest member of the famed Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Edwards fronts a marvelous quintet that has been performing regularly at Smalls Jazz Club for many years now. Up Swing celebrates the post-bop sounds the group is known for and covers many of the ensemble's greatest hits from over ...
read moreNick Green: Green On The Scene
by Pierre Giroux
Nick Green's latest release, Green On The Scene, is a captivating musical journey which combines masterful instrumentation, intricate compositions and a profound sense of improvisational exploration. Accompanied by trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, pianist Jeb Patton, bassist Mike Karn and the inestimable drummer Kenny Washington, the band embarks on a set list of compositions which are at the intersection of tradition and modernity. The session opens with Charlie Parker's Red Cross," a contrafact written over the lines of ...
read moreThe Harry Allen Orchestra: With Roses
by Pierre Giroux
Harry Allen is a tenor saxophonist's tenor saxophonist with an elegant tone and swinging style in the manner of Scott Hamilton, Lester Young or Ben Webster. He has a well-rounded discography of over 70 releases as a leader and many others as a sideman. Over the course of his prolific career, Allen has appeared with the likes of Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, James Taylor and guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli and John Pizzarelli. In this release, With Roses, Allen applies his considerable ...
read moreJohn Pizzarelli: Stage & Screen
by Pierre Giroux
Guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli's Stage & Screen salutes songs from Broadway and Hollywood. However, there is also a subtext in five songs on the track list in which time" is featured either prominently or covertly, as it deals with love lost, found, unrequited or déjà vu. In this recital, Pizzarelli is joined by bassist Mike Karn and pianist Isaiah J. Thompson as they work smoothly together to trace the harmonic seams and essence of each tune. The ...
read moreJohn Pizzarelli: Stage & Screen
by Steve Monroe
Evoking heartfelt memories of love and longing, sunshine, laughter and more, vocalist/guitarist John Pizzarelli's Stage & Screen delivers vibrant interpretations of classic songs from Broadway and Hollywood. The album provides not only nostalgia and hopeful vibes, but what amounts to orchestral artistry by Pizzarelli, pianist Isaiah J. Thompson and bassist Mike Karn as a bonus. Pizzarelli, a Grammy award winner and long an internationally acclaimed performer and entertainer, has been credited as being a prime interpreter of the Great American ...
read moreHarry Allen: Milo's Illinois
by David A. Orthmann
In February of 2019, Harry Allen played a gig at Shanghai Jazz, a restaurant/jazz club in Madison, New Jersey. Allen's contributions to the opening set transpired amid a splendid convergence of circumstances. His tenor sax, an acoustic piano and an upright bass were not miked or amplified in any way. Obliviously noisy diners were conspicuous by their absence. Standing less than five feet from the first row of tables, Allen didn't feel the need to huff and puff and blow ...
read moreHarry Allen: Milo's Illinois
by C. Michael Bailey
"We baked all our own bread." Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year The COVID pandemic has changed many things about daily life, creating something of a new, mutated normal." This is no more apparent than in many of the outside-the-box" methods that performance artists have used to subsist and ply their trade during a virtual lockdown. In particular, tenor saxophonist Harry Allen took the pandemic head on by cutting a European tour short in March ...
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