Official Website of Jazz Trumpeter

Trumpet/flugelhorn soloist Mike Metheny is a native of Lee's Summit, Missouri and has degrees from the University of Missouri/Columbia (B.S. in Music Education) and Northeast Missouri State University (Masters in Music Education). His teachers included Keith House and John Alexander.

mike metheny, jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, jazz music, jazz artist, jazz musician From 1971 to 1974, he was a trumpeter in the U.S. Army Field Band in Washington D.C., and in 1976 he became a faculty member at Boston's Berklee College of Music, a position he held for six years. At Berklee, Mike taught private trumpet, music theory and jazz improvisation and, while in Boston from 1976 to 1989, led his own Boston-based jazz quartet, appearing in numerous club, concert and festival settings across New England and the U.S.

Mike is a recipient of the "Outstanding Brass Player" award at the annual Boston Music Awards. He has also appeared on numerous jazz recordings as a sideman and has recorded eight albums as a leader: Blue Jay Sessions (1982, Headfirst Records), Day In -- Night Out (1986, MCA/Impulse), Kaleidoscope (1988, MCA/Impulse), From Then 'Til Now (1992, Altenburgh Records) and Street of Dreams (1996, Altenburgh Records), and Close Enough For Love (2001), KC Potpourri (2003) and Back to Basics (2004) on Mike's 3 Valve Music label.

Since 1983 Mike has been one of the few trumpeters to regularly perform on the EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument), a trumpet synthesizer with many dimensions and musical possibilities. Originally developed by Nyle Steiner, the EVI has an eight octave range, is MIDI capable, and, as Mike says, "can double as a bug sprayer."

Today, Mike is a freelance performer, educator and music journalist in the Kansas City area and has written liner notes for such notables as jazz vocalist Marilyn Maye (Supersinger: A Tribute to Johnny Carson). He has also contributed to KC Magazine, Jazziz, and The DaCapo Jazz & Blues Lover's Guide to the U.S. and is the former editor of Kansas City's Jazz Ambassador Magazine (JAM), a position he held from 1994 to 2003.