Mike started playing saxophone in 1963, and shortly afterwards, the Beatles burst on the scene, and the die was cast. He played his first professional gig at 16, and put himself through college leading bands on weekends and summers. He’s a 1975 graduate of the Univ. of Southern Maine, with majors in sax and voice, and minors in flute and piano. After graduation, he hit the road, and by the age of 25, he was playing on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii’s favorite band. In 1978 he was introduced to the Lyricon, a ground-breaking electronic wind instrument, and wind synthesizers remain one of his favorite tools of expression. He spent several years in Boston and Maine as a studio musician, arranger, producer and composer, with over 30 albums and 100's of jingles to his credit. At 32, he decided to concentrate on other opportunities full-time, but has continued to play out regularly- 2019 marked his half-century as a professional musician! In his long and varied career, Mike has played in every imaginable musical ensemble- solo and duos up to 10 piece horn bands (even symphony orchestras), and in almost every style- rock, funk, blues, R&B, jazz, folk, electronic.
Concurrently, Mike has had a stellar professional career, as well. In the music industry, he is currently Co-Founder and VP of The Real School of Music in Burlington and Andover, MA and Derry, NH. Previously, Mike was Vice President of Verne Q. Powell Flutes, makers of the world’s finest handmade musical flutes, and President of HiNotes, makers of Zonda woodwind reeds. Prior to that, he served as a district manager for Daddy's Music Stores, at the time one of the US' largest music retailers. He has written multiple articles for major music trade publications. Outside of music, he has worked as a senior business consultant for major corporations in several industries. His work was featured in the best-selling book X-Engineering the Corporation by James Champy, and he is a co-inventor on US Patent # 7,742,930 “Web-based managed care system having a common administrative account", held by Perot Systems Corp. He has also been a successful real-estate developer/investor/builder, and has personally built over 20 custom homes, winning a 2005 Cornerstone Design Award from the Home Builders Assn. of NH for Single Family New Construction.
You can catch Mike in Florida performing solo, or rocking with Glass Onion or The A Team. In addition, he is in demand as a guest player for special events with The Voltron Collective, the Mojo Downs Band, in the orchestra of various Savannah Center shows and even with the world famous Blues Beatles. In New England in the summer, you might catch him with The Renovators, The Outerspace Band, Grammy-nominated The James Montgomery Band, Paul Warnick or Big Chief. Please see the Events page for up to date info about performances.