Your featured co-conspirator for today is pianist Mike Holober. Mike is a compositional heavyweight in his own right -- he leads the Gotham Jazz Orchestra and recently became Associate Music Director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, and he was a 2003 and 2004 MacDowell Fellow. He has three recordings as a leader on Sons of Sound -- the small group recordings Canyon and Wish List, with Tim Ries, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Brian Blade, and John Patitucci or Scott Colley, plus his big band project with The Gotham Jazz Orchestra, Thought Trains, with Ron Carter and John Riley holding down the rhythm section. A busy sideman on the New York jazz scene, Mike’s recordings include Pete McGuinness’ Sliding In and Coast to Coast, Charles Pillow’s In This World, Dave Pietro’s Now Becoming Then and Nick Brignola's First Set: Live at Sweet Basil and It’s Time, amongst others.
As a composer, his commissioned works include “Views From a Train,” for the American Saxophone Quartet, “Road Trip,” for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (premiered by New York Philharmonic saxophonist Dave Demsey), “Toccata for Flute and Marimba”for flutist Karen Demsey and percussionist Greg Giannascoli. An active educator, Mike is an Assistant Professor at the City College of New York where he directs the big band and teaches jazz composition, arranging, sight reading, rhythm section, and coaches combos. Other current teaching activities include “Outreach,” the Summer Jazz Workshop at Schwaz, Austria, and The Hartwick College Summer Music Festival & Institute. Mike regularly adjudicates and performs as guest soloist/conductor at educational festivals and his master classes in piano, composition, and group performance include a recent visit to The Royal Conservatory in Stockholm. He has been invited to give master classes at The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and was in residence this past summer at the conservatory in Innsbruck, Austria.
Mike is another longtime co-conspirator, having been a part of the Society since the beginning -- an auspicious start that began with us trying to cram into the CB's basement space and arguing with the staff there about whether the keyboard was blocking the fire exit. Mike is featured on "Flux in a Box"-- after all of the frenetic composed activity that precedes it, his solo is like a taste of sorbet (to use a favorite Brookmeyerism).
As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Mike's appearance on our debut album.
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Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist
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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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