 Mike Metheny is a native of Lee's Summit, Missouri and has degrees from the
University of Missouri/Columbia (B.S. in Music Education) and Northeast
Missouri State University (Masters in Music Education). His teachers
included Keith House and John Alexander.
From 1971 to 1974, he was a trumpeter in the U.S. Army Field Band in
Washington D.C., and in 1976 he became a faculty member at Boston's
Berklee College of Music, a position he held for six years. At Berklee,
Mike taught private trumpet, music theory and jazz improvisation and,
while in Boston from 1976 to 1989, led his own Boston-based jazz
quartet, appearing in numerous club, concert and festival settings
across New England and the U.S.
Mike is a recipient of the "Outstanding Brass Player" award at the annual Boston Music Awards. And, in addition to appearing on numerous jazz recordings as a sideman, has recorded seven solo albums: Blue Jay Sessions (1982, Headfirst Records), Day In -- Night Out (1986, MCA/Impulse) featuring Mike's brother Pat Metheny, Kaleidoscope (1988, MCA/Impulse), From Then 'Til Now (1992, Altenburgh Records), Street of Dreams (1996, also on the Altenburgh label), Close Enough For Love (2001, on Mike's 3 Valve Music label) and KC Potpourri (2003, 3 Valve Music).
Since 1983 Mike has been one of the few trumpeters to regularly perform on the EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument), a trumpet synthesizer with many dimensions and musical possibilities. Originally developed by Nyle Steiner, the EVI has an eight octave range, is MIDI capable, and, as Mike says, "can double as a bug sprayer."
Today, Mike is a freelance performer, educator and music journalist in the Kansas City area. He is also the former editor of Kansas City's Jazz Ambassador Magazine (JAM), a position he held from 1994 through 2003.
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