\u201cPlay what you feel. Sing what you believe. Perform each show like it’s your last.\u201d
\n– Mike Quick<\/p>\n
Soul blues is alive and well in 2012. With a new hometown \u2013 Deland, Florida \u2013 and a new album \u2013 Time Change \u2013 Mike Quick is pushing the genre in new directions both lyrically and sonically. “I love Muddy, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnnie Taylor, and Otis,\u201d says Quick. \u201cI take what I\u2019ve learned from those guys and forge ahead in their spirit. But I got to be me!”<\/p>\n
With his arsenal of guitars and a voice that sounds like he swallowed Ray Charles, Mike makes raw soul music that you can feel down to your bones. He\u2019s got licks that\u2019ll make you jump and lyrics that\u2019ll make you think, both of which are on display on his latest release, Time Change.<\/p>\n
His fourth album, Time Change, is Mike\u2019s most focused outing to date. Its seven contemporary soul blues cuts run as far south as Stax and as far north as Motown, with Memphis horns and roots reggae swagger in the mix. Mike took some of Orlando\u2019s heaviest blues, soul and funk musicians into the studio with him for the set. The band features Chris Baptiste on Hammond organ and keyboards, with the mighty rhythm section of Jimmy Seay on bass and \u201cNatural\u201d Phil Johnson on kit. The cracking two-man horn section is Doug “Spoon” Spoonamore on tenor and Brian Scanlon on trumpet, and Florida bluesman Shaun Rounds guests on electric guitar and vocals. The band flat out kills it on Mike\u2019s tight arrangements.<\/p>\n
The entire album is available to stream at Mike\u2019s website. One of his earlier albums, Mission To Mars, is also available at the site. It features Mike\u2019s New York band of Adam Nussbaum (drums), Jeremy Baum (Hammond organ), and Jason Upchurch (electric bass). Recording and mixing on Mission to Mars was done by the one and only Popa Chubby.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been playing and recording for about 20 years now,\u201d says Mike, who spent most of that time in the hot blues scene of New York\u2019s lower Hudson Valley. That\u2019s where he launched a career that has included thousands of gigs, four albums, and a long stint as the owner, operator, barkeep, and house bandleader of the venerable Corner Stage Jazz & Blues Club in Middletown, New York. The small and much beloved club was home to bluesmen including Bill Perry, Popa Chubby, Murali Coryell, Slam Allen, and Little Sammy Davis to name just a few. Not to mention the group of music-loving friends, fans and players who still follow what Mike\u2019s got going \u2013 even today, where his music continues to evolve in the hot blues scene of central Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m always growing as an artist,\u201d he says, \u201cand I give it everything I’ve got in every show.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"