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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.

In 1989 he joined the Walkers, who signed with Atlantic Records after a fierce bidding war. Alas, no album was ever released and the band broke up, and important lessons about the industry were learned. By this time he had become well-known in the Boston/NYC area and had begun a long association with the Indo-jazz group Natraj, touring India and Africa and recording several CDs with the band. Through his association with Natraj he played with Ghanian master drummers Godwin Agbele and Dolsi-Naa Abubakari Lunna (studying with them as well), South Indian chitraveena player Ravikiran, bansuri player Steve Gorn, and others.

Being equally at home on both electric and acoustic basses, he became sought after for studio and live work and began to add to an already impressive resume that included Aimee Mann, Bruce Hornsby, Jon Brion, Cab Calloway, Mighty Sam McClain, Peter Wolf, Guster, the Velvet Underground's Mo Tucker and Paula Cole. Possessing a musical aesthetic that did not discriminate against any musical style, in addition to his work in the rock and pop fields he pursued interests in world music with the West African bands Oyie and Mamma Tongue, and jazz and avant garde music with Joe and Mat Maneri, Bob Moses, Vernon Reid, and others.

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Album Review

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

Read "As Above - Live At The Lizard Lounge" reviewed by Doug Collette


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. Recorded in 1999 and 2000, at the Lizard Lounge in Boston, which has become Mike Rivard and company's home base over the ...

5
Album Review

Club d'Elf: You Never Know

Read "You Never Know" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


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 bandleader Mike Rivard, the sole constant in the collective's 24-year run, suffered a near-death experience from a pulmonary embolism which struck him while he ...

12
Album Review

Club D'Elf: You Never Know

Read "You Never Know" reviewed by Chris May


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 long, dark period of depression followed, before Rivard emerged recharged into the light, having been sustained in large part by gnawa, the Moroccan trance ...

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Catching Up With

Mike Rivard: Entranced By The Music

Read "Mike Rivard: Entranced By The Music" reviewed by Paul Naser


As globalization blends cultures and markets more and more everyday, it is only natural that artistic traditions and the artists that study them do the same. Mike Rivard is a leader in this regard, pioneering some of the most unique blends of musical styles and sounds today. Talking to him about his band Club D'elf and his new project, Grand Fatilla, revealed a number of diverse influences that shed some light on the roots of the one of a kind ...

203
Album Review

Club d'Elf: As Above: Live at the Lizard Lounge

Read "As Above: Live at the Lizard Lounge" reviewed by AAJ Staff


The groove runs deep and long on As Above, a 2-disc set from Club d'Elf. Voyaging through realms of electronica, ethnic percussion, and dirty funk, As Above pays exquisite attention to the beat. The two-plus hours of collected music on this set document the highlights of five months' worth of live improv at Boston's Lizard Lounge. (OK, so it's actually in Cambridge, but what's a hop across the river in the grand scheme of things?) Ringleader (bassist) Mike Rivard hosts ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

You Never Know

Face Pelt Records
2022

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Parhapsody

Kufala Recordings
2007

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As Above

Self Produced
2000

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

From: As Above - Live At The Lizard...
By Mike Rivard

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