Mike Collins & Friends profile picture

Mike Collins & Friends

Mike Collins & Friends

About Me

So far, we have been writing original material, doing arrangements of existing material, and making recordings of all this stuff at Mike's Place (Mike's personal project studio in Wood Green).Lots of the recordings feature Jim Mullen's jazz guitar playing and several feature Lyn Dobson or Chris "Snake" Davis playing saxes or flutes. Others feature Mike Collins playing guitars or Damon Butcher playing keyboards. Guest vocalists include Noel McCalla and Tony O'Malley, with Carol Grimes and Jocelyn Brown due to record new material here very soon.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/9/2006
Band Website: web.mac.com/mikecollins4
Band Members: Mike Collins plays guitar, tenor banjo, mandolin, pedal harp, bass guitar, hand percussion and various keyboards. Blair Cunningham plays drums and (occasionally) piano. Jim Mullen plays jazz guitar. Damon Butcher plays keyboards with occasional guest appearances from Keith O'Connell. Winston Blissett plays bass guitar with guest appearances from John McKenzie and David Hadley. Lyn Dobson and Chris "Snake" Davis make guest appearances on saxes and flutes. Roger Beaujolais is now playing vibes on several recordings and Noel McCalla is adding vocals.
Influences: Started with folk music and country blues before getting into urban blues, R & B and soul. Stax and Motown were very big influences for me - everyone from Stevie Wonder to Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin to William Bell and, of course, Booker T & The MGs. All the big rock albums in the 1970's such as Little Feat, The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, all the great soul music from The Sound of Philadelphia and others, and the jazz-funk of George Benson, The Blackbyrds and Donald Byrd, Hubert Laws, The Crusaders - the list goes on. Reggae when Bob Marley was alive was always a big influence, and there were some great singles around in the 1980's and even into the 1990's. By the time the 1990's got into full swing, I started to explore jazz much more than previously. Firstly by reaching back to the earliest jazz from the 1920's and 1930's - Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Eddie Lang, Lonnie Johnson, Dick McDonough and Carl Kress, to mention just a few. Then I re-visited the 1940's and 1950's swing and bebop - everyone from Charlie Christian to Miles Davis. Miles crossed over into the 1960's and 1970's and introduced me to names like Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter and the like. Weather Report, Chick Corea and the like stunned me with tracks like Birdland and several of Chick Corea's recordings - but at other times I found these too clinical or too technical for my taste. Today I am listening to lots of tenor banjo, mandolin and pedal harp players - because I'm learning to play all these instruments since last year. So I'm listening to Harry Reser (Tenor Banjo), Jethro Burns and Jacob do Bandolim (mandolin), Deborah Henson-Conant (harp) and various recordings of classical harp pieces by Ravel, Debussy and others. Meanwhile, the search for great new albums I haven't heard yet continues...
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None

My Blog

A beautiful rendition of a beautiful song by Jake Shimabukuro

I just love the way this guy expresses himself so musically on this tiny fretted instrument: listen and wonder! ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:27:00 PST

More Ukelele from Jake

Sensitively played music on the Ukelele from Jake Shimabukuro that shows what this instrument can really do: ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:18:00 PST

Virtuoso Ukelele by Jake Shimabukuro

Check this guy out to hear what the humble ukelele can do in the hands of a maestro! ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:00:00 PST

The Birth of Rock: The Break-Up Of Cream

The Break-Up Of Cream: Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce on the messy implosion of the first super-group. ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Sun, 20 May 2007 03:51:00 PST

The Birth of Rock: Guitarists of the Yardbirds

Guitarists of the Yardbirds: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page on the band that was the launch pad for some of rock's best-known axemen. ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Sun, 20 May 2007 03:50:00 PST

The Birth of Rock: Tommy

Tommy: Roger Daltrey on the creation of The Who's first rock opera. ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Sun, 20 May 2007 03:48:00 PST

The Birth of Rock: When Dylan went Electric

When Dylan Went Electric: Recollections of the infamous moment when Bob plugged in. ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Sun, 20 May 2007 03:47:00 PST

The Birth of Rock: The Blues

The Blues:Keith Richards, Robert Plant and Roger Daltry on the essence of the Blues. ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Sun, 20 May 2007 03:46:00 PST

A beautiful thing...

Here is a beautiful piece of music performed by my MySpace friend, Bei Bei, on the Gu Zheng - a Chinese Zither.Under The White Wind/Myspace Easter Performance Add to My Profile | More Vi...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 02:09:00 PST

More fun in the US of A

Apple did this guy a favour - helping to fast-track him toward a career in comedy! ...
Posted by Mike Collins & Friends on Mon, 26 Feb 2007 05:38:00 PST