Mike Holober (born April 21, 1957) is an Americanjazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator.
Holober moved to New York in 1986, and worked as a composer and sideman pianist.[citation needed] After working with baritone saxophonistNick Brignola in the late 1990s, he formed The Mike Holober Quintet,[1] featuring original compositions and arrangements performed byTim Ries (saxophone),Wolfgang Muthspiel (guitar),Brian Blade (drums), andScott Colley andJohn Patitucci (bass). The quintet recorded two albums on Sons of Sound:Canyon[2] (2003) andWish List(2006).[3][4]
Holober's big band, The Gotham Jazz Orchestra,[5] released two recordings:thought Trains[6] (Sons of Sound, 2004) andQuake[7] (Sunnyside, 2009). The group's most recent recording,Hiding Out, is due for release August 2019 on ZOHO.[8] The double CD featuresHiding Out[9], commissioned for by The Philadelphia Museum of Art (funded by the Pew Foundation),[10]Flow, commissioned by theWestchester Jazz Orchestra[11] (funded by a NYSCA Individual Artist's Grant), andJumble, commissioned by TheU.S. Army Jazz Knights of West Point. The recording also includes an arrangement of Jobim'sCaminhos Cruzados, commissioned by theWestchester Jazz Orchestra and written for and featuring trumpet masterMarvin Stamm. Other featured artists onHiding Out include Billy Drewes, Jason Rigby, Scott Wendholt, Adam Kolker, Jon Gordon, Steve Cardenas, and Jesse Lewis.
Holober is a 2017-18 recipient of a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant forDon't Let Go, a song-cycle in the tradition of Robert Schumann, Samuel Barber, and Ralph Vaughn-Williams, and premiered at Symphony Space (The Leonard Nimoy Thalia) in June 2018.[12]Don't Let Go was written for Holober's octet Balancing Act,[13] whose premiere recordingBalancing Act[14] was released in 2015 (Palmetto), featuring Mike's original compositions (several with lyrics), performed byKate McGarry,Dick Oatts, Jason Rigby,Marvin Stamm,Mark Patterson, John Hebert, andBrian Blade.
Holober was the musical director of theWestchester Jazz Orchestra from 2007 to 2013, a non-profit organization based in Westchester New York.[citation needed] Under his leadership, the organization commissioned over 140 new works for jazz orchestra. Guest artists included Joe Lovano, Kate McGarry, Janis Siegal, John Scofield, John Patitucci, Randy Brecker, and Paquito D'Rivera. Holober also served as conductor, artistic director, and lead arranger for WJO's 2011 release,Maiden Voyage Suite, a reworking of Herbie Hancock's 1965 Blue Note recording.
Holober has worked with several big bands in Europe, including theHR-Bigband (Frankfurt), where he served as Associate Guest Conductor from 2011 to 2015, and the WDR Big Band (Cologne).[15] Projects for the HR Big Band include arranging and conducting concert length projects for Kurt Rosenwinkel, Billy Cobham, Jane Monheit, Terje Rypdal, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Miguel Zenon, andJazz From Hell,[16] a concert of the works of Frank Zappa for the 2015 Frankfurt Jazz festival. With the WDR Big Band (WestDeutsche Rundfunk - Cologne, Germany) he has written and conducted projects for Avishai Cohen and Eli Degibri,[17] and for drummer Al Foster. Other projects include arrangements for a concert featuring Eli Degibri with jazz orchestra and strings,[18] which was performed at the National Opera House in Tel Aviv in 2014.[19]
Holober is a full professor atThe City College of New York and was named the inaugural Stuart Z. Katz Professor of Humanities and the Arts in 2018.[20] He is a five-timeMacDowell Fellow,Ucross Foundation Fellow andYaddo Guest. He also teaches composing and arranging at The Manhattan School of Music.[21] From 2007 - 2015 he served as associate director of the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop, where he taught with Musical DirectorJim McNeely.[22]
Videos
"Star of Jupiter" - Kurt Rosenwinkel & hr-Bigband; Kurt Rosenwinkel & hr-Bigband im hr-Sendesaal 12.06.2015
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