Michael Leonhart

Show Description

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"Michael Leonhart's Hotel Music is a neo-psychedelic martoony with a lemon twist. Dig it!" - Donald Fagen, Steely Dan

"Leonhart's mischievous sense of mystery makes Hotel Music an intensely ambient trip." - David Weiss, Mix Magazine

"Leonhart performs with sensitivity and precision..." - New York Times

"… a sculptor of sound…"  - David Adler, AMG

Michael Leonhart returns to Joe's Pub with his 12-piece all-star ensemble featuring members of Sharon Jones and the Dapkings, Antibalas, Budos Band and El Michels Affair. They will be performing songs from this year's vinyl-only release "Hotel Music" [St. Ives/Secretly Canadian] as well as brand new songs from the soon-to-be-released "Seahorse & the Storyteller...". While "Hotel Music" can be described as "a hazy pastiche of found sounds, off-kilter loops and submerged pop hooks, a headphone journey into the soul of this talented multi-instrumentalist [OTHER MUSIC- NYC]", "Seahorse & the Storyteller" draws heavily from the infectious heavy grooves of 70's Nigerian funk mixed with densely layered horns and vocals.  Leonhart's ensemble will feature the same 3-piece choir and 3-piece horn sound heard last April at his sold-out Joe's Pub debut,  augmented this time by a 5-piece heavy funk rhythm section.

Michael Leonhart is a jazz trumpeter,  multi-instrumentalist, and singer/songwriter and an accomplished session musician. He has appeared on over 100 albums by a wide variety of pop, jazz, and hip-hop artists. Some of his performing and/or recording credits include Brian Eno, David Byrne, Jens Lekman, Noah and the Whale, A Tribe Called Quest, James Brown, Lenny Kravitz, Raekwon (Wutang Clan), Mos Def, Bill Frisell, Bobby McFerrin, Bonnie Raitt, Busta Rhymes, D.J. Spooky, Henry Mancini, John Barry, Natalie Merchant, Q-Tip, Slash (Guns and Roses/ Velvet Revolver), Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Todd Rundgren, and Wynton Marsalis. Leonhart also played trumpet and wrote horn arrangements for Steely Dan's 2000 comeback album, Two Against Nature and has been touring with the group since 1996. Michael's earliest major achievement occurred at 17 years of age, when he won the Grammy for Best High School Musician in the U.S. Leonhart's debut, Aardvark Poses, was issued by Sunnyside Records in 1995.

 
This show is part of Joe's Pub's 10th Anniversary Celebration