Mike Hart
Bluesy, Rootsy, original.
6
songs
745
plays
Show all (6)
Mike Hart is a seasoned professional with enormous talent on the guitar and an expressive singing voice. He is a master of blues, funk, jazz and rock; at ease with nuances as well as the harder edge. He's a versatile and engaging performer with sophisticated talent and broad appeal. His approach to music reveals a fine art background. Most people take "seasoned professional" as a euphemism for "doesn't take chances anymore'. In Hart's case, not so. To Mike, it means having learned the elements of music to express oneself better. "I once heard a story about Howlin' Wolf shinnying up a stage curtain at 55", he says, "I wanna be like that!"
Mike Hart offers a large and varied repertoire of songs from the 1,000 or so he's written, to the many interesting tunes he's chosen to cover; always an unexpected treat.
Called a cross between Freddie King, Bob Dylan and Miles Davis, he's not quite like anything you've ever heard, but once you do, you'll become a lifetime fan.Band/artist history
Mike, a prodigious songwriter, produced three critically acclaimed compact discs of original songs; The Bluesy "SHOWDOWN" album, and the more progressive "EVERYBODY"S HUMAN", and more recently, TOO MANY SECRETS.
Under the name of DECOY, he released two albums of original compositions; "Target Area", and "On the Level". Mike Hart has opened for Buddy Guy and Junior Wells.
"Shared the stage with...", sounds a little like "shared the highway with George Washington, Elvis and God", he says, but he's played the Jacksonville Jazz Festival three times along side many excellent musicians including; Tuck and Patti, Ramsey Lewis, Pat Metheny, Harry Connick Jr., Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Brecker Brothers, Dizzie Gillespie, George Benson, Richard Elliot, and others. Hart has also played in back-up bands for Percy Sledge, the Coasters, and the Platters.
Hart has had many bands, including "VILANO" and "ANIMAL WISDOM", which played, for lack of a better phrase, "my own brand of Jazz-Rock fusion", knowing that the word "fusion" has lousy connotations for a lot of people. "Weather Report was the only fusion band that lived up to its potential", he says. "ANIMAL WISDOM" played only the music of Mike Hart, and was pretty experimental. Some other bands were, "FIREFLIES", "DECOY" and "MIKE HART and the BONETONES."Have you performed in front of an audience?I play live mostly in St. Augustine and North Florida, but travel a bit.
Your musical influences
I like the lyrics of Bob Dylan, and he's also an over-looked melody writer because the words are so good. But I've also been influenced by Tom Waits, Mose Allison, James Brown, all the Kings of the Blues, and many others in that genre, and innovators in Jazz like Miles Davis. Mainly, I like the mavericks of music.What equipment do you use?
I use a Gibson 335 and a Fender Stratocaster. I have a Mesa Boogie amp and a Fender Deluxe. I also have an acoustic Gibson J45 I write on.Anything else?
I think the focus in music should be saying something truthful instead of projecting a contrived image. The image will just come naturally out of that.Contact
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