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Mike Longo

Mike Longo began his professional career at the age of fifteen in South Florida where he began working with his father’s club date band around the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. He actually began playing piano at the age of three in Cincinnati, Ohio his birthplace. By the age of four, the family took him to the Cincinnati Conservatory where he began formal lessons with a teacher. The family later moved to Ft. Lauderdale when he was at a very early age where he grew up and began playing boogie woogie piano. His professional career took roots after winning a local talent contest at the age of twelve.

Longo went to a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert while in the 9th grade and heard Oscar Peterson who immediately became his idol. Cannonball Adderley, who was a band director in a local high school at the time, heard Longo at a jam session and became interested in the young pianist. The two became friends and the elder Longo hired Cannonball to work some gigs with his club date band. Later, Cannonball got Longo a gig with a R&B band that he was working with and the pianist began playing up and down the east coast of Florida on what was known at the time as “the chittlin’ circuit.” The older Adderley began coaching the younger musician and later hired him to play with his quartet at the famed Porky’s that was depicted in the movies of the same name in the '70s.

After graduation from high school, Longo attended college at Western Kentucky State University where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in classical piano. During his stay there he went on the road with the famed Hal McIntyre orchestra during one summer and played with legendary guitarist Hank Garland in Nashville’s famous Printers Alley as well. During his senior year of college, Longo won the Downbeat Magazine Hall of Fame Scholarship to Berklee School of Music when a fellow student submitted a tape recording of his playing to the magazine. Longo declined the scholarship and upon graduation hit the road as a full-time professional jazz musician. During his two-year stint with a band called the Salt City Six, he was booked into New York’s Metropole Cafe. When the band left, Longo stayed at the Metropole as a house pianist. It was there that he worked with such jazz notables as Henry Red Allen, Coleman Hawkins, George Wettling, Gene Krupa and many others.

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Album Review

Enrico Granafei: It's Hard to Say Goodbye

Read "It's Hard to Say Goodbye" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


With It's Hard to Say Goodbye, multi-talented Italian guitarist and harmonica player, Enrico Granafei and a group of standouts offer eleven Latin-flavored jazz selections. The effort, recorded over an extended period, also features two artists who have unfortunately passed--trumpeter Claudio Roditi and pianist, Mike Longo. Granafei has dedicated the album to them and to the memory of Granafei's mentor, Toots Thielemans. “Claudinho," a Granafei original samba, opens the session. Upbeat in tempo, Granafei and Roditi make the ...

9
Book Review

The Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician's Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White

Read "The Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician's Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


The Rhythm of Unity Mike and Dorothy Longo 237 Pages ISBN: 978-1956470741 Redwood 2023 Mike Longo was a distinguished pianist in spite of himself. He was a musicians' musician. He had little interest in celebrity. However much he needed to make a living, Mike spurned opportunities, like becoming Tony Bennett's pianist, that would have brought him to the attention of a wider audience. Longo was arguably one of Dizzy Gillespie's most dedicated students ...

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Book Excerpts

The Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician’s Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White

Read "The Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician’s Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White" reviewed by AAJ Staff


The following is an excerpt from Chapter 15 “Angel Of Love," from Mike & Dorothy Longo's The Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician's Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White (Redwood Publishing, 2023). It was 1966. Word had gotten out, and it felt as though everyone was complimenting me about my gig at the Embers West. Other musicians started to consider me as “one of the cats," and I started working around town with people like Hank Jones, ...

4
Album Review

Mike Longo: Step On It

Read "Step On It" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


If you want to hear what pianist Mike Longo enjoys, and how he thinks, you listen to his big band--The New York State Of The Art Jazz Ensemble--which is featured on Live From New York! (Consolidate Artists Productions, 2013); if you just want to hear Mike Longo, you listen to this trio. Step On It is the third go-round for this group, following Sting Like A Bee (Consolidated Artists Productions, 2009) and the trio-plus-guests To My Surprise ...

3
Album Review

Mike Longo and the New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble: Live from New York!

Read "Live from New York!" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The fourth album by pianist Mike Longo's stalwart New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble is the first one recorded in front of an audience, in May 2013 at the New York City Baha'i Center's John Birks Gillespie Auditorium. On the one hand, Live from New York! offers the kind of spontaneity and high spirits a studio date seldom can; on the other, no less than three of its eight tracks are vocals, and their acceptance is a matter ...

3
Album Review

Mike Longo and the New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble: Live From New York!

Read "Live From New York!" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


When trumpet titan Dizzy Gillespie left this earth he left no shortage of disciples behind. His now-legendary peers (i.e. saxophonists Jimmy Heath and Benny Golson), a cadre of killer Cubans (Arturo Sandoval, multi-reedist Paquito D'Rivera, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, etc.) and a pride of young lions all worked with him, learned from him, and sang his praises, both before and after he departed; so did/does pianist Mike Longo, though too few people seem to recognize him. Part of ...

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Album Review

Mike Longo Trio + 2: To My Surprise

Read "To My Surprise" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Though veteran jazz pianist Mike Longo has a long and distinguished career that includes a 25-year association with the legendary Dizzy Gillespie, To My Surprise documents only the second recording with his existing trio. This follow-up to his very successful Sting Like A Bee (Consolidated Artist Production, 2009), features the same lineup of bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Lewis Nash as the core trio, but a major difference is the inclusion of trumpet luminary Jimmy Owens and tenor saxophonist Lance ...

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Book / Magazine

Mike & Dorothy Longo's Co-Written 'The Rhythm Of Unity,' A Story Of A Search For Musical, Spiritual, & Racial Enlightenment, Due May 9 From Redwood Publishing

Mike & Dorothy Longo's Co-Written 'The Rhythm Of Unity,' A Story Of A Search For Musical, Spiritual, & Racial Enlightenment, Due May 9 From Redwood Publishing

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

When Mike Longo—the New York jazz pianist who was a longtime protégé, collaborator, and friend of Dizzy Gillespie—passed away in 2020 from COVID-19, he left behind a manuscript of his journey to musical and spiritual fruition. His widow, Dorothy Longo, completed the memoir as The Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician’s Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White, to be published May 9 by Redwood Publishing. To Mike’s chronicle of his personal quest, Dorothy added the story of their 39-year romance ...

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Recording

Pianist Mike Longo's Consolidated Artists Productions To Release His New CD, "Only Time Will Tell," March 31

Pianist Mike Longo's Consolidated Artists Productions To Release His New CD, "Only Time Will Tell," March 31

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Connoisseurs of jazz piano trios will welcome the release, on March 31, of Only Time Will Tell, the new trio recording by piano master Mike Longo with Paul West on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. The disc is Longo’s 20th for the CAP (Consolidated Artists Productions) label, and his 26th since debuting as a leader in 1962. Included on the CD are two compositions by Dizzy Gillespie, with whom Longo worked as pianist and musical director for 26 years, ...

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Recording

Pianist Mike Longo To Release New CD, "The Mike Longo Trio Celebrates Oscar Peterson Live," Oct. 7

Pianist Mike Longo To Release New CD, "The Mike Longo Trio Celebrates Oscar Peterson Live," Oct. 7

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Pianist Mike Longo had the distinct privilege of studying, for six intense months in 1961, with his idol Oscar Peterson in Toronto. Among several key principles imparted by Peterson to his pupil was the importance of “not playing like anyone but yourself,” says Longo. “He told me that people who are trying to play like Art Tatum are making a big mistake in that they are trying to be Art Tatum instead of trying to be as good as Art ...

Recording

Pianist Mike Longo Reconvenes His Trio With Bob Cranshaw & Lewis Nash For "Step On It"

Pianist Mike Longo Reconvenes His Trio With Bob Cranshaw & Lewis Nash For "Step On It"

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

In his distinguished and sometimes surprising career, pianist Mike Longo has established himself as an invaluable sideman, most notably with Dizzy Gillespie, and as a versatile leader of groups ranging from his 17-piece New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble to his six-man eponymous Funk Band. Longo is also a master of the trio format, and he dedicates his new CD, Step On It, to explorations of jazz standards in the company of two favorite trio-mates, bassist Bob Cranshaw ...

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Contest

Enter the "Mike Longo - Live From New York" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Enter the "Mike Longo - Live From New York" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Consolidated Artists Productions “Mike Longo - Live From New York“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on February 10th. Click here to enter the contest (Becoming a fan of Mike Longo at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.) Good luck! Your Friends at Consolidated Artists Productions About Live From New York Jazz journalist Owen Cordle once stated, “The salvation of ...

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Recording

"Sting Like A Bee" By Mike Longo

"Sting Like A Bee" By Mike Longo

Source: Michael Ricci

After more than a half-century as a jazz pianist, and having learned valuable lessons early on from studying with Oscar Peterson and playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Mike Longo delivers an incredible repertoire of in-depth musical exploration on his latest trio recording, Sting Like a Bee. This new album, also featuring jazz stalwarts Bob Cranshaw on bass and Lewis Nash on drums, showcases Longo's always-evolutionary playing on a dozen tunes recorded 'live in the studio, mostly first takes with the absolute ...

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Performance / Tour

Rob Scheps performs with Jimmy Owens & Mike Longo in New York Oct. 18

Rob Scheps performs with Jimmy Owens & Mike Longo in New York Oct. 18

Source: All About Jazz


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Performance / Tour

Mike Longo Trio @ New York Baha

Mike Longo Trio @ New York Baha

Source: All About Jazz


Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

It's Hard to Say...

CAP Records - Consolidated Records Productions
2024

buy

Only Time Will Tell

Consolidated Artists Productions
2017

buy

Step On It

Consolidated Artists Productions
2014

buy

Live from New York!

Consolidated Artists Productions
2014

buy

Live from New York!

Consolidated Artists Productions
2013

buy

To My Surprise

Consolidated Artists Productions
2011

buy

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