Biography

“Play what you feel. Sing what you believe. Perform each show like it's your last.”
- Mike Quick

Soul blues is alive and well in 2012. With a new hometown – Deland, Florida – and a new album – Time Change – Mike Quick is pushing the genre in new directions both lyrically and sonically. "I love Muddy, Howlin' Wolf, Johnnie Taylor, and Otis,” says Quick. “I take what I’ve learned from those guys and forge ahead in their spirit. But I got to be me!"

With his arsenal of guitars and a voice that sounds like he swallowed Ray Charles, Mike makes raw soul music that you can feel down to your bones. He’s got licks that’ll make you jump and lyrics that’ll make you think, both of which are on display on his latest release, Time Change.

His fourth album, Time Change, is Mike’s most focused outing to date. Its seven contemporary soul blues cuts run as far south as Stax and as far north as Motown, with Memphis horns and roots reggae swagger in the mix. Mike took some of Orlando’s heaviest blues, soul and funk musicians into the studio with him for the set. The band features Chris Baptiste on Hammond organ and keyboards, with the mighty rhythm section of Jimmy Seay on bass and “Natural” Phil Johnson on kit. The cracking two-man horn section is Doug "Spoon" Spoonamore on tenor and Brian Scanlon on trumpet, and Florida bluesman Shaun Rounds guests on electric guitar and vocals. The band flat out kills it on Mike’s tight arrangements.

The entire album is available to stream at Mike’s website. One of his earlier albums, Mission To Mars, is also available at the site. It features Mike’s New York band of Adam Nussbaum (drums), Jeremy Baum (Hammond organ), and Jason Upchurch (electric bass). Recording and mixing on Mission to Mars was done by the one and only Popa Chubby.

“I've been playing and recording for about 20 years now,” says Mike, who spent most of that time in the hot blues scene of New York’s lower Hudson Valley. That’s where he launched a career that has included thousands of gigs, four albums, and a long stint as the owner, operator, barkeep, and house bandleader of the venerable Corner Stage Jazz & Blues Club in Middletown, New York. The small and much beloved club was home to bluesmen including Bill Perry, Popa Chubby, Murali Coryell, Slam Allen, and Little Sammy Davis to name just a few. Not to mention the group of music-loving friends, fans and players who still follow what Mike’s got going – even today, where his music continues to evolve in the hot blues scene of central Florida.

“I'm always growing as an artist,” he says, “and I give it everything I've got in every show.”