Mic Gillette (May 7, 1951 – January 17, 2016) was an American brass player, born and raised in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties ...

. He is best known for being a member of the bands;

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the b ...

, Cold Blood, and The

Sons of Champlin The Sons of Champlin are an American rock band, from Marin County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, formed in 1965. They are fronted by vocalist-keyboardist-guitarist Bill Champlin, who later joined rock band Chicago, from 1981 to 20 ...

. He played in the horn section with Tower of Power for 19 years.

Biography

His father Ray Gillette was a trombonist, playing with acts such as

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

, and other big bands. A child prodigy, Gillette picked up the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and was reading music by age four. At age 15, he joined the band that would later be known as

, playing various brass instruments for the band including the trumpet,

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, baritone horn and

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

. He took a brief break from Tower of Power to tour in the 1970s and record with the band Cold Blood. He re-joined Tower of Power a year later, touring and opening for

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

and Creedence Clearwater Revival. As its reputation as a premier horn band grew,

toured with

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

, Rod Stewart, and

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

, among others. In addition, Gillette appeared on hundreds of recordings as a session player. In 1984, Gillette quit touring to be a full-time father to his daughter Megan. In 1998 he returned to music. Shortly after joining the

that year, he missed one of their concerts due to a split lip. According to Gillette himself, he had split his lip due to not playing for 14 years after leaving

. He spent those years running a landscaping business in the San Francisco Bay Area. An outstanding brass player with a great range and a funky style, Gillette played a Marcinkiewicz Rembrandt Model SC3X.351 Large-Bore Trumpet and a

King 3B The King 3B is a medium-bore trombone currently manufactured by Conn-Selmer, Inc and sold as the "King 2103 Legend 3B." Popular with professional jazz musicians, the older models from the 1960s are known for their brilliant tone and fluidity in t ...

trombone with an F-attachment (he also played a Pan American E-flat Tuba and an Olds 3-valve baritone). He used and endorsed Marcinkiewicz mouthpieces on all of this equipment. Gillette was a member of the

(he departed in 2006), fronted by

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

vocalist and keyboardist

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, musician, arranger, producer, and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the band Chicago from 1981–2009. ...

; he had also a member of Tortilla Soup, a 10 piece northern California band. He played with comedian Danny Marona, the Stevie "Keys" Roseman All Star Band, the Strokeland Superband, and Funky Loophole (Gillette's own band). He toured and recorded with

The Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success in the 1970s, ...

(appearing on the Doobie's "Live At Wolf Trap" DVD),

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...

, and Santana. After a 25-year absence, Gillette rejoined Tower of Power in August 2009 for touring, replacing Mike Bogart; but he left the band again after just more than a year and a half on February 14, 2011. In the last years of his life, Gillette continued to do session work as well as live appearances; fulfilling a long-time dream to assemble his own band, he brought together Megan Gillette McCarthy (his daughter), Greg Barker, Dave Hawkes, Clint Day, and Matt Martinez to create the Mic Gillette Band (the MGB). The final version of MGB included Megan Gillette, vocals, Andres Soto, Tenor Sax, Jason Stewart, Guitar, Mark Foglia, Drums, Ryan Habegger, Trumpet and Keys, and Clinton Day on Bass and vocals., Gillette spent much of his time teaching doing clinics at middle schools & high schools. He was the music director and taught clinics at Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, California and taught music classes at Stanley Middle School in

Lafayette, California Lafayette (formerly La Fayette) is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 25,391. It was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer of the American Revolutionary War. ...

. He raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for music departments in schools across the United States.

Death

Gillette died on January 17, 2016 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

, aged 64 in Gold Beach, OR. He was survived by his wife Julia and his daughter Megan Gillette.

Discography

Band Albums

He was featured on "Hip Li'l Dreams", a disc of originals released by the

in 2005 and appeared on the Doobie Brother's ''Live at Wolf Trap'' DVD. Gillette worked on various side projects. After a chance meeting with Tony Adamo, Gillette wrote the horn arrangements for Adamo's albums, ''Straight Up Deal'' and ''Dance of Love''. His arrangements can be heard on Adamo tunes "No Strings", "Up in It" and "Groove Therapy". Gillette also performed with vocalist

Josh Pfeiffer Joshua Randall Pfeiffer (born June 27, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter and music producer. Early life He was born in Sonora, California to parents Gary and Joyce Pfeiffer, and was one of five children growing up. Josh credits his p ...

in Northern California with an eight-piece group featuring guitarist Dave Schramm and keyboard player Kent Gripenstraw. He is included on the Cold Blood album, ''Sisyphus'' (1970) playing trombone, trumpet and flugelhorn.

Solo albums

* Mic Gillette, ''Newvo Kids'' (1995), Dancing Walrus Music * Mic Gillette, ''Ear Candy'' (2005), BKA Records # "Funky Good Time" ntro(1:05) # "Tell Mama" (3:47) # "I Like That" (3:51) # "Before I Go" (4:55) # "How Was I To Know" (3:57) # "If Only for A Moment" (4:22) # "Abaco" (4:12) # "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)" (4:21) # "If" (6:42) # "It Had Better Be Tonight" (3:50) # "Funky Good Time" omplete(4:13)

As sideman

With John Lee Hooker *''

Free Beer and Chicken ''Free Beer and Chicken'' is an album by blues musician John Lee Hooker recorded in California in 1974 and released by the ABC label the same year. Reception AllMusic reviewer Eugene Chadbourne stated: "In some ways this is a typical John Lee ...

'' (ABC, 1974)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillette, Mic 1951 births 2016 deaths American trumpeters American male trumpeters Tower of Power members Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area