Mike Longo

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Michael Josef Longo (born March 19, 1939) is a jazz pianist, composer, and author.

He is best known for his relationship with Dizzy Gillespie.

Early life

Longo was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to parents with a musical background. His father played bass, his mother played organ at church, and his music education began at a young age. "I remember seeing Sugar Chile Robinson playing boogie woogie piano for the first time," Mike said. I must have been three or four years old. He played after the Count Basie show, so I went home and started picking out boogie woogie bass lines." At four, his parents took him to formal instruction at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Straight after, he and his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He received a local talent competition at the age of 12.

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Career

Longo's career began in his father's band but Cannonball Adderley helped him get gigs of his own. Adderley's time as a band leader predates their involvement as a member. Adderley came to Longo because he needed a pianist at his church. The town was largely segregated at this time, so the white Longo playing at a black church was curious. Longo was too young to go to clubs with him when this resulted in recordings with Adderley in the mid-1950s. Longo appeared at Porky's house, which was later shown in the film. He will continue to earn his Bachelor of Music degree from Western Kentucky University.

At the Metropole, Dizzy Gillespie met Longo. "I was playing downstairs with Red Allen, and Dizzy was playing upstairs with his band." So if he wanted to go outside for a break, he had to come down the stairs and pass us on the way out. The Copper Rail, a soul food restaurant and a bar where the musicians from the Metropole would all hang out, was a joint across the street. When asked about any promising young musicians he'd heard, I quickly learned about me. He was a fan of Oscar Peterson from a youth, and he studied with him from 1961 to 1962. "I was playing with tied wrists and excessive arm strength in terms of technique and touch." The most important thing I learned from Peterson were piano playing and how to be a jazz pianist - textures, voice, vision, and tone.

Longo began to lead the Mike Longo Trio in the 1960s, which would remain in effect for the next 42 years. Longo, who had been denied after divorcing his first wife, had just landed a gig at Embers West with Roy Eldridge, and he was back in the Metropole. Longo was accompanied by Eldridge to see him perform with Paul Chambers. Longo was fired by Gillespie the next day. Longo, the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet's musical director, and later Gillespie chose him to be the pianist for the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band. His music career would be traced to Gillespie from 1966 to today. Longo was with Gillespie on the night he died and later gave a eulogy at his funeral.

Longo performed at weekly jazz sessions held at the Bahá center in honor of Gillespie, a tradition he helped start. He was a member of the Bahá Faith, as Gillespie. Longo also taught a master class to up-andcoming jazz musicians, including Adam Rafferty. The Art Jazz Ensemble of Longo, along with other members of the center, will perform on stage and give up-and-coming musicians the opportunity to perform on stage, and the audience will have a jazz experience at a reasonable price. Mike Longo's main aim was to re-establish the teaching jazz apprenticeship program. "I know jazz education is a vital component, and I'm sure the profession is meaningful," he said, but there seems to be a trend in jazz teaching jazz where people are actually copying off recordings rather than actually learning to play jazz. Jazz has always been about apprenticeships, as it has evolved."

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