Garson’s 7:30 p.m. performance in Lincoln Park’s mainstage theater will cap a week of workshops with music students at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School. Saturday’s show is free and open to the public.
His appearance here came about through Lincoln Park’s collaborative relationship with Barry Bittman, M.D., CEO of the Yamaha Wellness Institute.
Garson recorded 16 albums with David Bowie, and 15 albums solo or with his group Free Flight. He recorded with Stan Getz and Stanley Clarke, and more recently with Nine Inch Nails, Seal, No Doubt and Smashing Pumpkins. He has authored seven books on music.
“It is pointless to talk about his ability as a pianist. He is exceptional,” Bowie said of Garson. “However, there are very, very few musicians, let alone pianists, who naturally understand the movement and free thinking necessary to hurl themselves into experimental or traditional areas of music. . . Mike does this with such enthusiasm that it makes my heart glad just to be in the same room with him.”
Best known for his impressive skills as a pianist, Garson’s music composition credits include co-composing the score of the MGM film “Stigmata” in 1999 with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. Garson performed with the Pumpkins during their 1998 Adore tour and their final concerts in 2000.
On Labor Day weekend 2009, Garson performed at the famed Tanglewood Jazz Festival in Massachusetts with vocalists Nnenna Freelon and Harolyn Blackwell. Mike previously performed with this talented pair in November 2008 when he was the musical director, arranger and pianist for a tribute to Duke Ellington at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Embracing the idea of the “Renaissance Man,” Garson continually experiments with new ways through which he can communicate his humanistic ideals and hopes for the world in which he lives. A documentary film about Garson’s life and musical career is in production, set for release in late 2013.
Since1982 Garson has been pianist and composer for Free Flight, a jazz and classical ensemble featuring renowned flutist Jim Walker. Free Flight appeared four times on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
He just concluded a summer tour with Free Flight, which included several concerts in Chautauqua, N.Y., Illinois, Kentucky and several international music conventions.
In his youth, Garson studied classical composition with Leonard Eisner of Juilliard and earned degrees in music and education from Brooklyn College. He studied with Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Hal Overton, Robert Starer and Lennie Tristano, and played with Stanley Clarke, Elvin Jones, Lee Konitz, Stan Getz and Freddie Hubbard.
He recently joined the faculty of the Colburn School in Los Angeles, Calif., where he will be teaching improvisation this school year.
Recently, Garson began collaborating with brain surgeon Dr. Chris Duma from Newport Beach, Calif., to discover the effect and the power that music can bring to the healing process. A Yamaha artist, Garson works through the Yamaha Music & Wellness Institute on projects with Dr. Barry Bittman, a neurologist, author and the CEO of the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pa.
