Mike Holober (born April 21, 1957) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist, composer, arranger, and educator. Holober moved to New York in 1986, and worked as a composer and sideman pianist. After working with baritone saxophonist

Nick Brignola Nicholas Thomas "Nick" Brignola (July 17, 1936 – February 8, 2002) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist. Biography Brignola was born on July 17, 1936 in Troy, New York. He was born into a musical family in which his father played the tu ...

in the late 1990s, he forme
The Mike Holober Quintet
featuring original compositions and arrangements performed by

Tim Ries Timothy M. Ries (born 15 August 1959) is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate/conservatory level. Ries is in his year as a professor of jazz studies at the University of Toronto. His un ...

(saxophone),

Wolfgang Muthspiel Wolfgang Muthspiel (born 2 March 1965) is an Austrian jazz guitarist and record label owner. He is the brother of musician Christian Muthspiel. Music career When he was six, he began playing violin, and at fourteen he moved on to classical gui ...

(guitar),

Brian Blade Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter. Early life Blade was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. The first music he experienced was gospel and songs of praise at ...

(drums), and Scott Colley and

John Patitucci John Patitucci (born December 22, 1959) is an American jazz bassist and composer. Biography John James Patitucci was born in Brooklyn, New York. When he was 12, he bought his first bass and decided on his career. He listened to bass parts in R ...

(bass). The quintet recorded two albums on Sons of Sound:
Canyon
' (2003) and
Wish List
'(2006). Holober's big band
The Gotham Jazz Orchestra
released two recordings:
thought Trains
' (Sons of Sound, 2004) and
Quake
' (Sunnyside, 2009). The group's most recent recording, ''Hiding Out'', is due for release August 2019 on ZOHO. The double CD features ''Hiding Out','' commissioned for by The Philadelphia Museum of Art (funded by the Pew Foundation), ''Flow,'' commissioned by the

Westchester Jazz Orchestra The Westchester Jazz Orchestra is a 16 piece concert jazz orchestra based in Westchester, New York currently conducted by jazz pianist and composer Mike Holober. The orchestra has been critically acclaimed by ''The New York Times'', '' Down Bea ...

(funded by a NYSCA Individual Artist’s Grant), and ''Jumble'', commissioned by The U.S. Army Jazz Knights of West Point. The recording also includes an arrangement of Jobim’s ''Caminhos Cruzados'', commissioned by the

and written for and featuring trumpet master

Marvin Stamm Marvin Louis Stamm (born May 23, 1939) is an American jazz trumpeter. Career Stamm was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Stamm began on trumpet at age twelve. He attended North Texas State University, where he was a member of the One O ...

. Other featured artists on ''Hiding Out'' include Billy Drewes, Jason Rigby, Scott Wendholt, Adam Kolker, Jon Gordon, Steve Cardenas, and Jesse Lewis. Holober is a 2017-18 recipient of
Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant
for ''Don’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. ''Don’t Let Go'' was written for Holober's octe
Balancing Act
whose premiere recordin
''Balancing Act''
was released in 2015 (Palmetto), featuring Mike’s original compositions (several with lyrics), performed by

Kate McGarry Katherine Genevieve McGarry, known professionally as Kate McGarry, is a jazz vocalist. Career McGarry grew up in an Irish-American family with nine siblings in Hyannis, Massachusetts. She attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, graduat ...

Dick Oatts Richard Dennis Oatts (born April 2, 1953) is an American jazz saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator. Biography While growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, Oatts gained an interest in music from his father, Jack Oatts, who was a sa ...

, Jason Rigby,

, Mark Patterson, John Hebert, and

. Holober was the musical director of the

from 2007 to 2013, a non-profit organization based in Westchester New York. 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 the

HR-Bigband The hr-Bigband is the big band of Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. Founded 1946 as Tanz- und Unterhaltungsorchester des Hessischen Rundfunks it was renamed to hr Big Band in 1972. Since 2005 it is ...

(Frankfurt), where he served as Associate Guest Conductor from 2011-2015, and th
WDR Big Band
Cologne). 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, an

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, and for legendary drummer Al Foster. Other projects include arrangements for a concert featurin
Eli Degibri with jazz orchestra and strings
which was performed at the National Opera House in Tel Aviv in 2014. Holober is a full professor at

The City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

and was named the inaugural Stuart Z. Katz Professor of Humanities and the Arts in 2018. He is a five-time MacDowell Fellow,

Ucross Foundation The Ucross Foundation, located in Ucross, Wyoming, is a nonprofit organization that operates an internationally known retreat for visual artists, writers, composers, and choreographers working in all creative disciplines. History Founded in 1981 ...

Fellow and

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

Guest. He also teaches composing and arranging at The Manhattan School of Music. From 2007 - 2015 he served as Associate Director of the BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop, where he taught with Musical Director

Jim McNeely Jim McNeely (born May 18, 1949) is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and faculty. Biography Jim McNeely was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois, and moved to New York City in 1975. ...

Discography

* The Mike Holober Quintet,
Canyon
' (Sons of Sound, 2003) * The Gotham Jazz Orchestra, ''
hought Trains
' (Sons of Sound, 2004) * The Mike Holober Quintet
''Wish List''
(Sons of Sound, 2006) * The Gotham Jazz Orchestra,
Quake
' (Sunnyside, 2009) * Mike Holober & Balancing Act
''Balancing Act''
(Palmetto, 2015) * The Gotham Jazz Orchestra

(

Zoho Music Zoho Music is a Latin jazz independent record label based in New York, founded by Joachim Becker in 2003. In 2005, the label expanded to blues, R&B, Southern and classic rock on the Zoho Roots imprint. The catalog consists of over 180 CD releas ...

, 2019)

References

External links