With parents who were deeply embedded in the 1960s blues milieu in London it’s perhaps no surprise that Mike ended up falling into the London music world, first as a warehouse boy for the legendary John Jack at Cadillac Distribution, then at Ray’s Jazz Shop in London where his dad worked. Fresh from the cleansing flame of punk he had his eyes, ears and pores opened by the free jazz scene, losing many girlfriends at the fierce improvisation gigs above pubs and in odd corners of London. His first business, Corvette Recordings, was a way of getting into these gigs by selling records at them.
More mainstream musical education followed with the mix of American jazz heroes and UK young turks making for fertile watching in the 80s and 90s. Writing occasionally for Straight No Chaser, odd DJ gigs and a few radio outings at Resonance FM further broadened the outlook, and later work for French classical label and jazz distributor Harmonia Mundi, indie monolith PIAS and contemporary jazz label Edition Records added breadth. But those ties to the improv scene and in particular to John Jack and Hazel Miller were strong and on the former’s sad demise. In 2017 he took over the running of the labels Cadillac Records and Hazel’s Ogun Records at which coal face he struggles still.
Hear Mike’s show Jazz Progression with stories from a lived-in British jazz history, on rotation now here on One Jazz.