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Artist
Mike Strickland
12+ albums
pianojazzbluesinstrumentalClassical
about
Pianist and composer Mike Strickland has been influenced by many styles of music and has evolved into a one-of-a-kind piano artist. Born and raised in Jackson Mississippi, he grew up listening to the great composers of that time including Henry Mancini, Vince Guaraldi, the Beatles and Burt Bacharach. His performance career started at the age of 9 when his father would encourage him to entertain dinner guests (“Alley Cat” and “Baby Elephant Walk” were the big hits back then). After turning eighteen, he began to frequent the clubs and listened to great local blues talents including native Mississippian, B.B. King. Formal music studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston and California State University at Northridge continued to expand his musical talents. After that, Mike moved to Montana and honed his entertaining skills in ski resorts, where his varied and spirited sets included Beatles tunes, romantic film themes, and finger-busting boogie-woogie numbers. Mike’s next home was Seattle for 26 years where he built a solid career as a performer, composer and recording artist. He started arranging popular music and creating CDs that were a mixture of well-known melodies and some original works. His own works were varied – some lush, orchestral and cinematic, some smooth jazz, some blues and boogie flavored and others almost new age. Sales of these CDs climbed to over 350,000 and are distributed throughout the nation and digitally throughout the world. In the last 15 years,
