Results for "Mike Gurrola"

Mike Gurrola

Born in Redwood City, CA in 1991, bassist Mike Gurrola began his musical journey studying and playing violin in his elementary school orchestra in La Crescenta, California. In his early teenage years an interest in rock and blues guitar led him to learn guitar on his own at home; meanwhile he had switched from violin to bass in his middle school orchestra. Mike's interest in jazz developed because of his desire to attend the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) where the school day was split equally between academics and the pursuit of the student's art. He auditioned successfully on upright bass and began a fruitful period of rapid development in jazz knowledge and skill, while winning group and individual awards at competitions at the Berklee College of Music and Monterey Jazz Festival annual school competitions, including a scholarship to Berklee's presitigious five-week jazz workshop led by critically acclaimed drummer Terri-Lynne Carrington and a seat two times as bassist in the Monterey Jazz Festival's Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, playing at the North Sea and Monterey Jazz Festivals and at the Kennedy Center

John Beasley: Master of All Trades

by Jim Worsley
April 4, 2019

In today's busy world, sometimes you just can't do it all. Apparently, John Beasley never received that memo. The pianist, composer, arranger, producer, music director, and film and TV composer is in high demand, and has an enormity of projects that would seem to belie the twenty-four hour day reality. It is perhaps the variance in ...

Terry Gibbs: 92 Years Young: Jammin' At The Gibbs House

by Jack Bowers
June 5, 2017

"92 Years Young." Sometimes that's an exaggeration. On the other hand, when applied to vibraphonist Terry Gibbs it may well be an understatement. Gibbs was indeed a mere six months shy of his ninety-second birthday when “Jammin' at the Gibbs House" was recorded in his living room in April 2016. Close your eyes, however, and it's ...

Terry Gibbs: 92 Years Young: Jammin' At The Gibbs House

by Dan Bilawsky
June 3, 2017

For a brief moment, put aside the fact that legendary vibraphonist Terry Gibbs is now ninety-two years old. Just listen to the YouTube video at the bottom of this piece--lyrical, swinging, and vibrant as any jazz out there--and take it in. It's something beautiful, right? Nothing radical or groundbreaking at all, but most certainly jazz of ...

Mike Jones Trio: Plays Well with Others

by Jack Bowers
November 24, 2013

Pianist Mike Jones not only Plays Well with Others, he plays well--period. Using a sharp, two-fisted style that hearkens back to Dave McKenna, Dick Hyman and even Earl Hines, undergirded by a buoyant melodicism worthy of Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan or his namesake Hank Jones, it's clear there's not much that Jones can't accomplish musically with ...

Mike Jones: Plays Well With Others

by C. Michael Bailey
November 16, 2013

Pianist Mike Jones has got a really sweet deal going. He is the opening act for the Penn and Teller Las Vegas Show. He is also now the heir apparent to the late pianist Gene Harris' commanding style of two-handed keyboard barrel housing. Harris was a master of propulsive and deliberate piano playing. He had all ...