Mike Glendinning
Mike Glendinning is a Bay Area Songwriter and musician. He was
born in 1976 and has been playing guitar since he was 12 years
old when he was first inspired by the music of Jimi Hendrix.
Since then Mike's music has continued to grow, change and
develope. He played guitar in his high school jazz band and
after that, performed in a rock band for four years. But his
own original music really began to take off in 2002 when he
built a home studio and started recording original
compositions. Nine months later Mike put out his first CD-
Machine In The Sky - featuring himself on guitar and his wife,
Christina, singing.
Mike's second CD- The Mike Glendinning Band- was released in
2005. This time out Mike and Christina were joined by Blair
Reese on bass and Ron Gainer on drums for an introspective,
avant-garde performance of original Glendinning material. Theo
Cedar says, "Mike Glendinning's latest CDC uses many tools
from his diverse guitar arsenal to paint an inviting view into
their private world." Guitarist Joe Livoti calls it an
"Interesting and captivating collection of tunes with clean
production, sweet ethereal vocals, and a cool, diverse mix of
guitar styles. Mike mixes Middle Eastern sounds with jazz,
country pickin' and some thick, nasty distortion freak outs".
In 2005 Mike teamed up with producer Curtis Ohlson who worked
with greats like Ray Charles, Pete Escevedo, and countless
others and wound up with his 3rd CD, "Random Acts of Grunge
Jazz" in late 2007. The CD has guest appearences from Brian
Collier on drums(Lauryn Hill, Santana) on the songs "Fade",
"Dead Red Summer", and "Swine." Mick Mestek on drums (Tower Of
Power) playing on "Cold Heat." Curtis Ohlson playing bass on
"Fade", "Dead Red Summer","Swine","Cold Heat","Misterioso",
"Home" and "Vincent." Also Christina Glendinning singing
backup vocals, Deb Tjoa on fiddle, Blair Reese playing bass on
Sun King, Will Rzad playing bass on "I Left My Heart In San
Francisco." To add finishing touches the EP was done by James
Boblak who engineered for The Police, Stu Hamm and other rock
greats.
Mike calls his music "Grunge Jazz," referring to his
preference for grimy, distorted chords and complex textures
blended with a sweet, melodic jazz line. His gritty, distorted
guitar gives his music an avant-garage, punk-rock/grunge DIY
feel, while his musical influences range from Miles Davis and
Thelonious Monk to Frank Zappa. Mike admires musicians who go
their own way and dare to adventure into uncharted musical
territory. Besides playing a schedule of Bay Area gigs, Mike
teaches rock, folk and jazz guitar to private students and at
the Albany Adult School.
Mark Fisher of Indie-Music.com writes about Glendinning's gap
-bridging uniqueness: "[He] must be doing something right
because [his] CD has quickly become an object of fascination
for me, and I have certainly listened to it more than the
average CD I get to review...Be careful because you could end
up under its spell."