Mike Fortune is a drummer committed to creative new music. Growing up in upstate New York, Mike studied with percussionists Richard Albagli and James Petercsak and drummers John Riley, Ed Shaughnessy, Bob Moses and Frank Marino. He also, during that time, earned a Bachelors of Music Education at the Crane School of Music, has completed graduate course work at Crane School of Music and Queens College.
In the Albany-Saratoga area, he gained performing experience with Bret Zvacek, Mark Capon, Nick Mancini, Paul Tynan, Keith Pray and other friends. Upon moving to New York City in early 2000, Mike stumbled into the 'downtown' scene in NYC, by accident, through meeting a mutual friend, Kelly Pratt. They together formed the group, Microtonacity.
Forgoing his instilled beliefs of musical categorization, Mike has gone on to perform and record with not only Microtonacity but also other great musicians, many being international jazz luminaries. The list includes Marshall Allen, Brian Patneaude Quartet, Shanir Blumenkrantz , Roy Campbell Jr., Daniel Carter, Ty Cumbie, Jorrit Dykstra, Avram K. Fefer, Francois Grillot, Ratzo Harris, Adam Lane, Lukas Ligeti, Ed Littman, Jonathan Lorentz Quartet, Sabir Mateen, Cameron Mizell, Eyal Moaz, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Ras Moshe, Bern Nix, Rueben Radding, Michael Ray, Reut Regev, Jeffrey H. Shurdut, Sonny Simmons, Blaise Siwula, Luther Thomas, Danny Ray Thompson, Walter Thompson, to name but a few. His performances and recordings have received favorable reviews in publications like Cadence, All About Jazz, Signal to Noise and others.
Mike has performed at venues and series such as the Blue Note, TONIC, Knitting Factory, Zebulon, Tribes, ABC No Rio, Bowery Poetry Club, The Music Now! Festival, The Garage, University of Notre Dame Jazz Festival, FreeStyle Series at CB's Lounge, and many, many, many others.
Relocated to Saratoga Springs with his lovely wife Dina in the summer of 2007, Mike is grateful for the many profoundly talented musicians that he has performed with and looks forward to future collaborations.
"Jiggle" w/ Ed Littman and His Standing Waves in NYC
