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Mike Longo

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Mike Longo(born March 19, 1939 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a jazz pianist, composer, and author. He is most known for his work with Dizzy Gillespie.

Awards

Scholarship from the Ft. Lauderdale Symphony Orchestra (1955) Downbeat Hall of Fame Scholarship (1959) National Endowment for the Arts Grant (1972) Inducted into Western Kentucy University Wall Of Fame (2002)

Albums

Longo has at least 18 albums under his own name. and over 50 albums or recorded performances for compositions he is known to contribute to. His first album appears to be "A Jazz Portrait Of Funny Girl" for Clamike Records in 1962 - The Mike Longo Trio (debut album as leader of own trio.) Here are just the more recent albums.

Other Publications

  • A nine part series of lectures/courses by Longo (some available audio taped) was started in 1976 with "Systematic Harmonic Substitution", ISBN: B0006XY9SA

Background

His training began at a young age as he came from a musical background. His father played bass and his mother played organ at church. At age 3 or 4 he recalls seeing Sugar Child Robinson playing boogie woogie piano. "The first time I saw him, man, he knocked me out. I must have been 3 or 4 years old. He played after the Count Basie show, so I went home and started picking out boogie woogie bass lines." They took him for formal lessons at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at four. He moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida soon after this. At the age of twelve he won a local Florida talent contest.

His career started in his own father's band, but later Julian Cannonball Adderley helped him get "gigs" of his own. Their working relationship began before Adderly was well-known as a band leader and began because he needed a pianist at his church. At this time the town was largely segregated so the white Mike Longo playing at a black church was somewhat unusual. When this led to recordings with Adderly, in the mid-1950s, he was initially too young to go to the clubs with him. Still in 10th grade, one of the places Longo played was Porky's later portrayed in the movie. Mike Longo would go on to receive his Bachelor of Music degree from Western Kentucky University. Dizzy Gillespie first heard Longo when he was playing at The Metropole "I was playing downstairs with Red Allen, and Dizzy was playing upstairs with his band. So every time he wanted to go outside for a break, he had to come down the stairs and pass us on the way out. There was a joint across the street called the Copper Rail, which was a soul food restaurant and a bar where the musicians from the Metropole would all hang out. Soon I learned Dizzy mentioned me in an interview in International Musician, the musician union’s magazine, when he was asked about any promising young musicians he heard". From 1961-1962 he studied with Oscar Peterson who he had been a fan of from a young age. "In terms of technique, touch, I was playing with locked wrists and too much arm technique. The main thing I got from Peterson was how to play piano and how to be a jazz pianist- textures, voicings, touch, time conception, tone on the instrument."

As an adult in the 1960s Longo would lead the "Mike Longo trio", which would remain active for the next 42 years. Gillespie was playing at the Metripole again and Longo, down after divorcing his first wife, had just gotten a gig at Embers West playing with Roy Eldridge. Eldridge brought Gillespie to see Longo playing with Paul Chambers. Gillespie hired Longo the next day. Eventually became musical director for the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet and later Gillespie chose him to be the pianist for the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band. From 1966 onward his music career would be strongly linked to that of Gillespie's. In 1993 he delivered a eulogy at his funeral. He was also with Gillespie on the night he died. He performs at the weekly jazz sessions held at the New York City Bahá'í center in honor of Gillespie and helped start the tradition. Like Gillespie he is a member of the Bahá'í Faith. Longo teaches a masters class to upcoming jazz musicians including Adam Rafferty and John Austria. The New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble plays there intermittently and provides upcoming musicians a chance to learn on stage and the audience to experience jazz at lower cost - part of his mission to re-igniting the apprenticeship relationship in teaching jazz. He says "I know jazz education is an important thing and I know that field means well, but there seems to be a trend in that field to teach jazz where people are actually copying off recordings instead of actually learning to play jazz. The apprenticeship aspect of jazz has always been the way it has evolved."

References

External links



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