Mike Longo – March 19, 1937 – March 22, 2020

Title: To My Surprise

Artist: Mike Longo Trio +2

Release Date: 2011 – 2021

Label: Consolidated Artist Productions

Catalog number: CAP 1030

Track Listing: *Written by Mike Longo (Consolidation Artist Publishing)

  1. A Picture of Dorian Mode – 5:30 *
  2. Still Water – 5:19 *
  3. New Muse Blues – 6:00 *
  4. Limbo – 3:31 (Wayne Shorter – Hal Leonard Publishing)
  5. Alone Again – 9:12 *
  6. I Hadn’t Anyone til You – 5:49 (Ray Noble – Bourne Publishing)
  7. Old Devil Moon – 5:59 (Burton Lace & E.Y. Harburg – Alfred Music)
  8. Magic Bluze – 3:24 (Jimmy Owens – JAYOH Music)
  9. To My Surprise – 6:00 *
  10. You’ve Changed – 6:29 (Bill Carey & Carl Fischer – Southern Music Publishers)
  11. Eye of the Hurricane – 3:24 (Herbie Hancock – Hancock Music Co.)
  12. In the Wee Small Hours – 4:25 (David Mann  & Bob Hilliard – RYTVOC, INC)

Overview:

Mike Longo – March 19, 1937 – March 22, 2020

In celebration and respectful remembrance of what would have been his 84th birthday, here is what Mike referred to as one of his favorite releases.

To My Surprise – Mike Longo Trio + 2

Mike Longo – Piano

Bob Cranshaw – Bass

Lewis Nash – Drums

Jimmy Owens – Trumpet/Flugelhorn

Lance Bryant – Tenor Saxophone

The son of a band-leading bassist father and a church organist mother, Mike was inspired as a child by boogie-woogie pianists Sugar Chile Robinson and Jack Fina. He later studied privately in Toronto with jazz piano master Oscar Peterson.

 His career reads like the table of contents of a jazz encyclopedia. As a pianist he worked with Cannonball Adderley, Roy Eldridge, Lee Konitz, Nancy Wilson, Jimmy Witherspoon and countless others, eventually becoming the band leader for Dizzy Gillespie from 1966-75. 

Longo was with Gillespie on the night he died, Jan. 6, 1993, and later delivered a eulogy at his funeral.

 Mike’s legacy lives on in the Consolidated Artists Productions label and publishing company that he founded in 1999. 

CAP has released over 150 titles and has launched and furthered the careers of many jazz artists. (Falkner Evans, Jay D’Amico, Lee Greene,  Eric Goletz)

“This man was my beloved guru and second father. To say he was a music teacher doesn’t do it justice. He was the one I called several times a day for personal and spiritual guidance. He took me under his wing and mentored me. He was a beacon of truth and light, and a best friend”. – Adam Rafferty

Links: –

 Consolidated Artist Productions

Mike Longo Bio

Promotion:

mcpro@earthlink.net