Results for "Mike Rivard"

Mike Rivard

Having grown up in Minnesota, Mike Rivard moved to Boston in 1981 to attend The Berklee College of Music, where he studied both electric and acoustic basses as well as composition. During this time he also studied privately with the renowned jazz improv teacher Charlie Banacos. Rivard cites amongst his main influences Dave Holland, Bootsy Collins, James Jamerson, Colin Moulding, Charlie Haden, Michael Henderson, Charles Mingus, Mick Karn, Gnawa Music, Tony Levin and John Wetton. A scholarship in 1986 led to his studying with Dave Holland at the Banff Center for Fine Arts, and subsequently purchasing one of Holland's acoustic basses. Russ Gershon, whom Rivard had met in a Berklee class devoted to the music of Charles Mingus, was impressed with his playing of several Mingus solo transcriptions and invited the bassist to join his 11-piece jazz ensemble, the Either/Orchestra, in 1986. During his three-year tenure the band recorded three albums and toured throughout the east and midwest, during which time he began a long friendship with then-E/O keyboardist John Medeski. Through his association with the E/O he also met Mark Sandman and joined his band, Hypnosonics, as well as guesting on several Morphine CDs.

Loon & Thrush

By Club d'Elf

Label: Face Pelt Records
Released: 2026
Track listing: Bird Song; Loon and Thrush; Left Hand of Clyde; Softly; New Speedway Boogie; Second Line; Dux Lux; Atlas Mountain Hop; Like a Silence; Level Up Your Soul.

Club D'Elf: Loon & Thrush

by Doug Collette
April 10, 2026

In overseeing Club D'Elf since its inception over 25 years ago, founder-leader-bassist Mike Rivard has maintained a core lineup around which has revolved a colorful cast of collaborators as eclectic as the music they have played.  Loon & Thrush is no exception, yet its creation took place in the shadow of the passing of ...

Club d'Elf At Foam Brewers

by Doug Collette
June 13, 2023

Club d'Elf Foam Brewers Burlington, Vermont June 3, 2023 Less than a week before the formal commencement of Burlington Vermont's Discover Jazz Festival, Club d'Elf set the bar high for the fortieth anniversary celebration of that annual event. Currently in the ongoing process of recognizing a significant milestone of its own--a ...

Club d'Elf: As Above - Live At The Lizard Lounge

by Doug Collette
February 20, 2023

The music of Club d'Elf's debut album, As Above, speaks volumes in terms of the group's mystical and stylistic roots. In fact, it is perfectly reflective of the actual ancient quote from which the title is taken; 'As above, so below...' suggests how the rhythm motifs are as fully and completely developed as the melodic themes. ...

Left Hand of Clyde (Parts 1, 2 & 3)

February 16, 2023

Album: As Above - Live At The Lizard Lounge
By Club d'Elf
Label: Supermusic
Released: 2000
Duration: 12:44

You Never Know

By Club d'Elf

Label: Face Pelt Records
Released: 2022
Track listing: Boney Oscar Stomp; Zeed Al Maal; Now Open Yours Eyes; Golden Hour; In A Silent Way / It's About That Time; Dark Fish; Dervish Dance; Lalla Aisha In Jhaptal; Allah Ya Moulana; King Kong.

Club d'Elf: You Never Know

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 19, 2022

You Never Know is the Club d'Elf studio album that captures the whirling, overlapping orbits of acoustic, electric and exotic sounds of the floating improvisational collective, which has recorded and performed together for more than two decades, with crisp studio clarity. But more importantly, You Never Know celebrates light born from darkness. Bassist and ...

Freaks in Mayberry & the Boney Oscar Stomp

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 4, 2022

Giuseppe Paradiso & Meridian 71 Parallel Dimensions Ubuntu Music 2022 Parallel Dimensions steers the listener's imagination through a luxurious multicultural tapestry woven in music by drummer, vocalist, composer, arranger and producer Giuseppe Paradiso and his sextet. It explores broad musical horizons that can sound radiantly bright ...

Club D'Elf: You Never Know

by Chris May
March 7, 2022

Near-death experiences can reboot the mind, separating the important from the trivial. It seems to have worked like that for bassist and composer Mike Rivard, founder and leader of Boston's world-dub-jazz band Club D'Elf. A few years back, Rivard was nearly felled by a pulmonary embolism while seeking spiritual insight in the Amazonian rain forest. A ...