Mike Baggetta Trio with Jerome Harris and Billy Mintz
“The electric guitarist Mike Baggetta played a measured, shimmery, almost surfy solo that I wanted to take home and study.“ - Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
“There are plenty of guitarists with chops but few whose fingers can write and paint pictures this musically.” - Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz
Mike Baggetta is a guitarist and composer living in New York City. It has been said that he is “a guitarist of slippery proficiency” (The New York Times), that his performances are “totally compelling” (Jazz Journal, UK) and that his melodic sense is truly beautiful” (Jazzreview.com).
Mike’s singular and very personal musical style seeks to blur the lines between composition and improvisation, while connecting a wide range of musical genres that influence him. He has earned accolades from the press that call this approach “…beguilingly atmospheric…” (Time Out New York) and that “Baggetta’s music [is] quietly transgressive… Even when he plays a lot of notes, his playing can sound almost static, as though ideas were being snagged out of thin air.” (The Hartford Courant)
Baggetta’s latest disc Spectre, his 4th release as a leader on the Fresh Sound New Talent label, features extensive use of live sampling as an integral part of the compositions, alongside Jerome Harris on acoustic bass guitar and Billy Mintz on drums. He has also previously released 4 recordings of his quartet music featuring Jason Rigby, Eivind Opsvik, Cameron Brown, George Schuller and RJ Miller, in addition to several albums by his co-led duo TIN/BAG with trumpeter Kris Tiner.
Mike Baggetta has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center, Town Hall and many other leading concert venues worldwide. He has worked with Tom Harrell, Adam Kolker, Billy Mintz, Cameron Brown, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Dominique Eade, Jamie Baum, Jeff Hirshfield, Conrad Herwig, Ralph Bowen, Jeremy Udden, Jerome Harris, Tony Reedus, Donny McCaslin, John Lindberg, Gerald Cleaver, Jon Irabagon, Joseph C. Philips’ Numinous, Kevin Norton, Bill McHenry, Brad Shepik, Steve Cardenas, Ruth Brown and Tyshawn Sorey among many others.
Baggetta has also received an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award and is an Endorsing Artist for D’Addario Strings.