Home » Jazz Articles » Take Five With... » Take Five With Mike Prigodich

Take Five With Mike Prigodich

View Slideshow

By AAJ Staff
June 25, 2011
View read count

Meet Mike Prigodich:
Mike's jazz fusion compositions have begun attracting attention from many well-known national and local artists. Becoming a cancer patient in 2008 was the big wakeup call that got him to start writing lots of new music, form a band, start booking gigs, and pursue his dream of becoming a professional jazz musician, inspired by fellow cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. Mike raised over $10,000 on kickstarter.com in 2010 to fund his first studio album A Stitch In Time, featuring

Damian Erskine

bass, electric
b.1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Damian Erskine, Reinhardt Melz, John Nastos, Brandon Woody, Rafael Trujillo,

Patrick Lamb

saxophone
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Patrick Lamb,

Tim Jensen

" data-original-title="" title="">Tim Jensen, and

Paul Mazzio

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Mazzio, produced by Emmy Award-winning David Mathew. This studio album and band is also being featured on the Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) Oregon Art Beat television show. Mike currently resides in Portland, Oregon and enjoys playing with some of the finest musicians in town who are up to the task of performing his extremely challenging but accessible compositions.

Instrument(s):
Piano, keyboards, bass

Teachers and/or influences?
Influences :

Chick Corea

piano
1941 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Chick Corea,

Don Grusin

piano
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Don Grusin,

Dave Grusin

piano
b.1934

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Grusin,

Hiromi

piano
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Hiromi, Kerry Livgren,

Michael Brecker

saxophone, tenor
1949 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Brecker.

I knew I wanted to be a musician when...
I heard

Chuck Mangione

flugelhorn
1940 - 2025

" data-original-title="" title="">Chuck Mangione and Dave Grusin on the radio.

Your sound and approach to music:
Original jazz fusion.

Your dream band:
I'm already playing with a dream band that includes Damian Erskine on bass and Reinhardt Melz on drums. I would love to work with

Frank Gambale

guitar
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Gambale or

Al Di Meola

guitar
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Al Di Meola on guitar someday, as well as

Bob Mintzer

saxophone
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Bob Mintzer or

Joshua Redman

saxophone
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Joshua Redman on sax, and

Dave Weckl

drums
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Weckl or

Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez

drums
b.1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez on drums.

Your favorite recording in your discography and why?
My debut album, A Stitch In Time; it's my first and only album so far.

The first Jazz album I bought was:
Dave Grusin, Out Of The Shadows.

What do you think is the most important thing you are contributing musically?
Interesting original compositions.

CDs you are listening to now:
Hiromi, Voice .

What is in the near future?
Promoting my newly released debut album, writing new music, and booking more gigs.

By Day:
I test software as a QA engineer.

Photo Credit
Courtesy of Mike Prigodich

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: On Fertil...
< Previous

How To Become Clairvoyant
Next >

Mike Prigodich Concerts

Sep 17 Wed

Mike Prigodich Elektric Group (mpeg-2) (two Shows --...

The 1905
Portland, OR

Sep 30 Tue

Mike Prigodich Elektric Group (mpeg-2)

Alberta Street Pub
Portland, OR

Oct 22 Wed

Mike Prigodich Elektric Group (mpeg-2)

Jo Bar & Rotisserie
Portland, OR

Nov 29 Sat

Mike Prigodich Elektric Group (mpeg-2)

The Burlingame Space
Portland, OR

Dec 10 Wed

Mike Prigodich Elektric Group (mpeg-2)

Jo Bar & Rotisserie
Portland, OR

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.