Michael Bates

Michael grew up in Canada and often worked at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Even though he was exposed to musicians such as Sun Ra, Thomas Chapin and Dave Holland, he began playing music in hardcore and punk rock bands and maintains that being a creative jazz musician is no different: “The music I write and perform is rooted in the jazz tradition, but punk’s ‘Do It Yourself’ ethos has stuck with me. As a jazz musician I take a decidedly punk rock attitude to things.”

Michael has recorded two cd's as a leader and over a dozen as a sideman. He has toured Europe, Hong Kong, China, Korea and Japan, the United States, Canada and was on faculty for five years at the Banff International Jazz Workshop where he worked with the artistic director, Dave Douglas. He studied with the former principal bassist of the Tokyo Symphony, Yoshio Nagashima, at the University of Toronto with Don Thompson and Dave Young and in New York with bassist/composer Mark Helias and Tony Falanga. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.