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Mike McKoy

Mike McKoy is a former member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain with professional experience in musical theatre. He has performed in six European countries and aboard the Majesty of the Seas for Royal Caribbean Celebrity Cruises.

He made his debut at London’s Ronnie Scott's club opening for Elvin Jones Jazz Machine. Reviewing a show at London's 606 club for The Guardian newspaper, John Fordham later wrote that "Mike McKoy made a powerful impression opposite Elvin Jones", and described the show as "a performance of bold coolness, which grew in stature as the battle with a noisy packed house increasingly went McKoy's way."

His first CD, 'Mike McKoy Swings to the Bossa Nova’ (ZECD35), was recorded live at the Pizza on the Park with Bobby Wellins (tenor saxophone), Pete Letanka (piano), Anthony Kerr (vibraphone), Simon Woolf (double bass) and Simon Morton (drums).

His latest album, LUDWIG MANHATTAN'S GERMAICAN BLUES, combines spoken-word narrative and jazz. It was recorded in Valencia (Spain) with Toni Belenguer (trombone), Vicent Colonques (keyboards), Matt Baker (double bass), Ignacio Aguilar (harmonica and didgeridoo) with Mike narrating, singing and playing guitar - on several tracks, in the vintage style and tuning championed by his hero Marty Grosz. The album is available as a CD + English/Spanish dual- language book (Sedajazz Records).

Gear

Godin 5th Avenue acoustic archtop guitar, Sonntag Augusta j18 semi-acoustic archtop; Evans RE200 and Polytone Mini-Brute II guitar amps


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Album Review

Mike McKoy: Ludwig Manhattan’s Germaican Blues

Read "Ludwig Manhattan’s Germaican Blues" reviewed by Marta Ramon


This is not a conventional jazz album because this is not just a jazz album. Ludwig Manhattan's Germaican Blues melds together the blues feeling with literature and a strong social philosophical idea: “Could you bloom, wherever you'd been planted?" Apparently, this audio-book experiment has been inspired by Mary Flannery O'Connor's writing The Life You Save May Be Your Own (Harcourt, 1955), a motivating premise that has guided his author to start a personal intimate trip to find himself through music. ...

5
Take Five With...

Take Five With Mike McKoy

Read "Take Five With Mike McKoy" reviewed by Mike McKoy


Meet Mike McKoy: Mike McKoy is a former member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain with professional experience in musical theatre. He has performed in six European countries and aboard the Majesty of the Seas for Royal Caribbean Celebrity Cruises. He made his debut at London's Ronnie Scott's club opening for Elvin Jones Jazz Machine. His first CD, Mike McKoy Swings to the Bossa Nova (Zephyr, 2003), was recorded live at the Pizza on the Park with ...

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"Ludwig Manhattan's Germaican Blues is absorbing, thought- provoking and, above all, fun.” DAVE GELLY (UK)

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