Mike LeDonne

Michael LeDonne (born 1956 in Bridgeport, Connecticut) is a jazz pianist and organist known for post-bop and hard bop.

His parents ran a music store with his father also being a jazz guitarist. He played with his father at gigs from the age of ten. At 21 he graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music and moved to New York City, playing with the Widespread Depression Jazz Orchestra. In 1988 he had his recording debut and joined Milt Jackson's Quartet. He performed with the band for 11 years and eventually became the Quartet's musical director. He has also worked with many of the masters of jazz history - Benny Goodman, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. He currently works with Benny Golson (since 1996) and performs under his own name all over the world.

LeDonne is also known as one of the leading players of the Hammond B3 organ. He has made two recordings as a leader on organ - "Smokin' Out Loud" and "On Fire". He performs every Tuesday evening at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City.

Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson has described LeDonne as "one of the most promising and talented pianists of this era."

Selected discography

• Bout Time (Criss Cross, 1988)
• The feeling of Jazz (Criss Cross, 1990)
• With Scott Robinson
• Jazz Ambassador: Scott Robinson Plays the Compositions of Louis Armstrong (Arbors Records)

External links

• All Music
• Smokejazz.com bio
• Mike LeDonne's home page
• In Conversation with Mike LeDonne by Tomas Peña (Jazz.com)

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Name	Ledonne, Mike
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Date of birth	1956
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