Mike Garson
Encyclopedia
Mike Garson is an American pianist
, most notable for his work with David Bowie
, Nine Inch Nails
, Billy Corgan
, Free Flight
, and The Smashing Pumpkins
.
, Tom Cosgrove and Stu Woods. They recorded two hard-to-find albums on the Tiffany label, which featured guest piano and liner notes by Dr. John
(and, strangely enough, album photography by Murray Head
, who scored a hit with "Say it Ain't So Joe" and later with the single "One Night In Bangkok
").
Garson also earned notice when he played on the I'm the One album by early 1970s experimental artist Annette Peacock
. Bowie asked Peacock to join him on a tour; she declined, but Garson began an enduring relationship with Bowie.
gave the song an avant garde jazz
feel with lengthy and sometimes atonal
piano solos.
Garson played also for Bowie's bandmate Mick Ronson
on his first and last solo tour, and his first album (Slaughter on Tenth Avenue). Garson came to replace Ronson as Bowie's musical lieutenant on several occasions. Notably on "We Are the Dead
" from the Diamond Dogs album, where Garson's metronome like keyboard provides a dramatic setting for Bowie's vocals and on the title track to Young Americans where his jaunty piano leads the band. Garson played with Bowie on and off over the years, resurfacing on The Buddha of Suburbia
album and the ambitious Outside album.
In 1993, Garson began a short-lived series of Screen Themes albums, jazz renditions of major themes and suite
s from film scores of 1993, and the following year, 1994. The latter album featured the recording debut of Jessica L. Tivens, at age 13, who had previously appeared on Star Search
. Both albums were released by Discovery Records
.
, Trevor Bolder
, Dave Black (guitar) and Pete McDonald (vocals). They recorded one eponymous album in 1976 before going their separate ways.
He joined the Smashing Pumpkins for their Adore tour, playing piano, keyboards and synthesizer. His piano playing was an integral part of the Pumpkins' performance. After the tour, he joined Corgan on his solo effort—the soundtrack for the movie Stigmata
. Garson did not perform the song "Le Deux Machina" on the Pumpkins' Machina II
album, but did play on the corresponding piano section of "Glass and the Ghost Children" off of Machina/The Machines of God
, which was actually excerpts of the version from The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music
tape. Garson also played on Nine Inch Nails
's album The Fragile
, as well as with No Doubt
and many other acts.
with his own music site, and to date has released some 50 free tracks. He is currently working on three new albums, as well as collaborating with several bands as touring player/session musician. His latest collaboration shows up on the last "met-on-Myspace" young French artist Kutas album A Home. Garson also contributed to and received co writing credit on the track "Something Unseen" by Athens, GA power pop band Chris McKay & the Critical Darlings
. He has also been collaborating with the Norwegian band Sleepyard
. In addition to this, he worked on the writing and recording of two songs on mathcore
band The Dillinger Escape Plan
's latest release, Option Paralysis
. He has also worked on several projects with the photographer Alex Boyd, including scoring the soundtrack to the short film Die Hasenjagd.
In november 2010 he recorded an album with Bowie covers called The Bowie Variations, which was released in july 2011 as a HDCD
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, most notable for his work with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
, Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan
William Patrick "Billy" Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet best known as the frontman and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the...
, Free Flight
Free Flight (band)
Free Flight was an American jazz ensemble, led by Jim Walker.Other members include Peter Erskine, Milcho Leviev, Ralph Humphrey, Brian Pezzone, Jimmy Lacefield, and Mike Garson, who played on Beyond the Clouds....
, and The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
.
Early career
In the early 1970s, Garson was a member of rock/country/jazz amalgam Brethren with Rick MarottaRick Marotta
Rick Marotta is a US-based drummer and percussionist who appears on many recordings by leading artists such as Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Hall & Oates, Stevie Nicks, Wynonna, Roy Orbison, Todd Rundgren, Roberta Flack, Peter Frampton, Quincy...
, Tom Cosgrove and Stu Woods. They recorded two hard-to-find albums on the Tiffany label, which featured guest piano and liner notes by Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
(and, strangely enough, album photography by Murray Head
Murray Head
Murray Seafield Saint-George Head is a British actor and singer, most recognised for his international hit songs "Superstar" and "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So...
, who scored a hit with "Say it Ain't So Joe" and later with the single "One Night In Bangkok
One Night in Bangkok
"One Night in Bangkok" is the title of a song originally sung by the British actor and Pop-dance singer Murray Head on the 1984 concept album for the musical Chess...
").
Garson also earned notice when he played on the I'm the One album by early 1970s experimental artist Annette Peacock
Annette Peacock
- Biography :Annette Peacock began composing at the age of four. Her mother was a violist in the San Diego and Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestras....
. Bowie asked Peacock to join him on a tour; she declined, but Garson began an enduring relationship with Bowie.
Work with David Bowie
Garson gave the piano and keyboard backing on the later Ziggy Stardust tour and his unique contribution to Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)Aladdin Sane (song)
"Aladdin Sane " is a song by David Bowie, the title track from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. Described by biographer David Buckley as the album's "pivotal" song, it saw Bowie moving into more experimental musical styles following the success of his breakthrough glam rock release The Rise and Fall of...
gave the song an avant garde jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
feel with lengthy and sometimes atonal
Atonality
Atonality in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used, and the notes of the chromatic scale...
piano solos.
Garson played also for Bowie's bandmate Mick Ronson
Mick Ronson
Michael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is best known for his work with David Bowie, as one of The Spiders from Mars...
on his first and last solo tour, and his first album (Slaughter on Tenth Avenue). Garson came to replace Ronson as Bowie's musical lieutenant on several occasions. Notably on "We Are the Dead
We Are the Dead
"We Are the Dead" is a song written by David Bowie for the 1974 album Diamond Dogs. The title is drawn from a line in the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields"....
" from the Diamond Dogs album, where Garson's metronome like keyboard provides a dramatic setting for Bowie's vocals and on the title track to Young Americans where his jaunty piano leads the band. Garson played with Bowie on and off over the years, resurfacing on The Buddha of Suburbia
The Buddha of Suburbia (soundtrack)
The Buddha of Suburbia is a 1993 soundtrack album by David Bowie which accompanied the 4-part television serial The Buddha of Suburbia on BBC2 ....
album and the ambitious Outside album.
Solo career
Parallel to this work with Bowie, Garson engaged in his own solo career as a jazz pianist, pushing the bounds of his art. He is regarded in the industry as one of the very few 'rock' pianists capable of performing extended piano solos. He remains one of the most highly sought-after session musicians with a unique sound of his own.In 1993, Garson began a short-lived series of Screen Themes albums, jazz renditions of major themes and suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
s from film scores of 1993, and the following year, 1994. The latter album featured the recording debut of Jessica L. Tivens, at age 13, who had previously appeared on Star Search
Star Search
Star Search is a television show that was produced from 1983-95, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Alfred Masini. A relaunch was produced in 2003-04. The show was originally filmed at the old Earl Carroll Theatre at 6230 Sunset Blvd...
. Both albums were released by Discovery Records
Discovery Records
Discovery Records was a United States-based record label known for its recordings of jazz music.Discovery was founded in 1948 by jazz fan and promoter Albert Marx...
.
Other collaborations
Garson worked with the reformed Spiders From Mars in 1975, alongside Mick WoodmanseyMick Woodmansey
Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey is an English rock drummer from Driffield, Yorkshire, best known for his work with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars...
, Trevor Bolder
Trevor Bolder
Trevor Bolder is an English rock bassist, musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his long association with Uriah Heep and his tenure with The Spiders From Mars, the one-time backing band for David Bowie, although he has played alongside a variety of musicians since the...
, Dave Black (guitar) and Pete McDonald (vocals). They recorded one eponymous album in 1976 before going their separate ways.
He joined the Smashing Pumpkins for their Adore tour, playing piano, keyboards and synthesizer. His piano playing was an integral part of the Pumpkins' performance. After the tour, he joined Corgan on his solo effort—the soundtrack for the movie Stigmata
Stigmata (film)
Stigmata is a 1999 supernatural horror film directed by Rupert Wainwright and starring Patricia Arquette as a hairdresser from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who is afflicted with the stigmata after acquiring a rosary formerly owned by a deceased Italian priest who himself suffered from the phenomena...
. Garson did not perform the song "Le Deux Machina" on the Pumpkins' Machina II
MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music
Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music is the sixth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was released for free on the Internet on September 5, 2000...
album, but did play on the corresponding piano section of "Glass and the Ghost Children" off of Machina/The Machines of God
MACHINA/The Machines of God
Machina/The Machines of God is the fifth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on February 29, 2000 by Virgin Records. A concept album, it marked the return of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and was intended to be the band's final official LP release prior to their first...
, which was actually excerpts of the version from The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music
The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music
The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music is a compilation album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It is a collection of previously unreleased demos and two live tracks which was originally created as a mix tape by Billy Corgan and passed to a fan with instructions to distribute...
tape. Garson also played on Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
's album The Fragile
The Fragile
In terms of narrative, virtually no references are made to the aspects depicted in The Downward Spiral. Like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile is a concept album, but, as a double album, is nearly twice the length of its predecessor. Reznor's vocals, for the most part, are much more melodic and...
, as well as with No Doubt
No Doubt
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California that formed in 1986. The ska-pop sound of their first album No Doubt , failed to make an impact...
and many other acts.
Current work
Recently Mike Garson appeared on MyspaceMyspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
with his own music site, and to date has released some 50 free tracks. He is currently working on three new albums, as well as collaborating with several bands as touring player/session musician. His latest collaboration shows up on the last "met-on-Myspace" young French artist Kutas album A Home. Garson also contributed to and received co writing credit on the track "Something Unseen" by Athens, GA power pop band Chris McKay & the Critical Darlings
Chris McKay & the Critical Darlings
Photographer Chris McKay, of Athens, Georgia, winner of several ASCAP Music Awards for his solo work, had wanted to be back in a group since his days with Q-Sign, which was named "one of the best unsigned bands in America" by Musician magazine....
. He has also been collaborating with the Norwegian band Sleepyard
Sleepyard
Sleepyard is a psychedelic pop band from Norway. Oliver Kersbergen formed the band in 1994 to record the first demo "Velvet sky". Later on brother Svein joined in and they started playing concerts....
. In addition to this, he worked on the writing and recording of two songs on mathcore
Mathcore
Mathcore is a rhythmically complex and dissonant fusion style of hardcore punk and Metal. It has its roots in bands such as Converge, Botch, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. The term mathcore is suggested by analogy with math rock. Both math rock and mathcore make use of unusual time signatures...
band The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...
's latest release, Option Paralysis
Option Paralysis
Option Paralysis is the fourth full-length studio album by American mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan, released on March 23, 2010. After having fulfilled their contract with Relapse Records, the band released the album through Party Smasher Inc., their own new imprint in collaboration with...
. He has also worked on several projects with the photographer Alex Boyd, including scoring the soundtrack to the short film Die Hasenjagd.
In november 2010 he recorded an album with Bowie covers called The Bowie Variations, which was released in july 2011 as a HDCD
High Definition Compatible Digital
High Definition Compatible Digital, or HDCD is a patented encode-decode process, now owned by Microsoft, that improves the audio quality of standard Redbook audio CDs, while retaining backward compatibility with existing Compact disc players....
Discography
- Avant Garson (1979)
- JazzicalJazzicalJazzical is the second solo album by jazz pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 1982.The term "jazzical" was first used by Charles Mingus as the title of his two-part album Jazzical Moods...
(1982) - Serendipity (1986)
- Remember LoveRemember LoveRemember Love is the fourth solo album by jazz pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 1989.-Track listing:#come into my arms#man in the mirror#remember love#somewhere out there#mardi gras#blue light#double funk#age of god#yesterdays...
(1989) - The Mystery ManThe Mystery ManThe Mystery Man is the fifth solo album by jazz pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 1990.-Track listing:# Illumination# Plain and Simple# The Mystery Man# Sunset# Be# Brooklyn Blues# Let It Be# Do It Out of Love # My Home...
(1990) - Oxnard Sessions, Vol.1Oxnard Sessions, Vol.1Oxnard Sessions, Vol. 1 is the sixth solo album by jazz pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 1990.-Track listing:#Without Self – 9:26#Nothin' to Do Blues – 5:35 #Tenderly – 3:49 #Wind Beneath My Wings – 6:00#Spontaneity – 5:38#Solar – 6:32...
(1990) - A Gershwin FantasiaA Gershwin FantasiaA Gershwin Fantasia is the seventh solo album by jazz pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 1992. A Single track album, 'A Gerswin Fantasia' is a medley of tracks by George Gershwin, given an avant-garde treatment by Garson...
(1992) - Oxnard Sessions, Vol.2Oxnard Sessions, Vol.2Oxnard Sessions, Vol.2 is the eighth solo album by jazz pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 1992. It was later re-released in 2008 by Allegro records as the album 'Jazzhat'-Track listing:#Rumble 5:04 #All Blues 9:49 #It's You Or No One 5:22...
(1992) - Now Music, Vol.4Now Music, Vol.4Now! Music is the ninth solo album by jazz pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 2003.-Track listing: #Ballade in G# Minor#Nocturne in B Minor#Sonata 3#Now 41#Now 36#Sonata 4#Tremelando#Sonata 9#Prelude in A Minor - Opus III...
(1998) - Homage to my Heroes (2003)
- Conversations with my FamilyConversations with my FamilyConversations with My Family is the eleventh solo album by notable jazz pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 2008 on Resonance Records. "Conversations with my family" is the first solo album released commercially by Mike garson in over 15 years, after having spent the previous decade working...
(2008) - Lost In ConversationLost In ConversationLost In Conversation is the twelfth solo album by notable jazz and classical pianist Mike Garson, and was released in 2008 as a free download from mikegarson.com.-Track listing:#Conversation I#Conversation II#Conversation III#Conversation IV...
(2008) - The Bowie Variations (2011, HDCD)
External links
- Regenmag - Mike Garson An interview in which Mike talks about his career to date
- Mike Garson at Reverbnation
- Official Mike Garson YouTube channel