Mike Mendoza

I began playing the saxophone at the age of twelve while I attended middle school at Hoover Middle School in San Jose, California. After two years of learning the fundamentals of the saxophone, I would attend high school at Lincoln High where I performed with the Marching Band, Symphonic band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Combo, Musical Theater, and Jazz Band. During my high school years, I performed with various bands and ensembles such as the West Valley College Jazz Ensemble, the Santa Clara County Honor Band, the Cal Poly Festival Wind Orchestra, and the Santa Clara University Jazz ensemble, where I had the privilege to perform with Tony Williams and Greg Bissionette. At the age of sixteen, I began to play professionally with a local band called the Night Life, where I learned to play different styles of music like R&B, Latin, and Pop.

Other accomplishments during high school included receiving several awards in music including the Outstanding Musicianship Award for Instrumentalists (Junior and Senior years) and the Semper Fidelis Award for Musical Excellence.

After I had finished High School, I attended De Anza College to major in music performance. During my stay at De Anza, I would perform at various collegiate jazz festivals and concerts with the De Anza College Big Band. During this time, I would practice for 3-8 hours a day, spending the majority of the time learning theory and working on technical exercises. I would also continue to perform professionally during this period with different groups and projects around the Bay Area including a gig playing at Paramount's Great America for three years and performing/touring with the swing band Hot Town Jubilee and Reagle Beagle.

In 2001, I would begin my teaching career at The Musician's Warehouse, where I currently teach Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, and Recorder lessons. Around the same time, I joined several bands in the Bay Area which include The Musician's Warehouse Big Band featuring Louie Bellson, The JT Horns, The Silicon Valley Houserockers, Odyssey, and Latin Funk Express. These are the bands that I currently perform with and you can read more about these groups in the Bands section of this website.

Some additional highlights of my musical career so far have included a performance with the Temptations at the Monterey Bay Blues Festival in 2003, a performance with Larry Carlton in 2003, and performing the National Anthem for the San Jose Sabercats at the HP Pavilion in San Jose in 2003 and 2004, San Jose Earthquakes at Spartan Stadium in 2004, and for the San Francisco Giants at SBC Park in 2003 and 2004.

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