Podcast 509: A Conversation with Mike Moreno

Guitarist Mike Moreo's clean, uncluttered sound s prominently displayed on Lotus, his new CD on Kendrick Scott's World Culture Music. The CD reunites Mike with longtime friends and collaborators Aaron Parks (piano), Doug Weiss (bass) and Eric Harland (drums). For all his talent, Lotus id not a "guitar hero" album, but rather a set of top-notch songs played na straightforward and stirring manner. Originally from Houston, Texas, Moreno began studying music formally at the Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a school renowned for its musical alumni, which includes such luminaries as Jason Moran, Robert Glasper, Brian Michael Cox, Eric Harland, Chris Dave, Kendrick Scott, and Beyoncé. Since moving to New York he has become a guitarist with a unique sound, oe that has led him to play and record with Terence Blanchard, Ralph Bowen, John Ellis, Robert Glasper, Jimmy Greene, Stefon Harris, the Joshua Redman Elastic Band, the Kendrick Scott Oracle, Sam Yahel, and others. He has appeared on three Grammy-nominated recordings. In 2010 both Q-Tip's The Renaissance and Geoffrey Keezzer's Aurea were nominated for Best Album in the Rap and Latin Jazz categories, and in 2008, Eldar's Re-Imagination received the same nomination in the Jazz Category. Podcast 509 is my conversation with Mike, as talks about the pros and cons of releasing music on an independent label, his talented quartet and his work on the latest Kendrick Scott Oracle album. Music includes “The Last Stand”, “Can We Stay Forever” and “Epilogue – The Rise” from Lotus; “The Long Shadow” from the Kendrick Scott Oracle’ We are the Drum; and “Money” from his collaboration with Sam Yahel, Seamus Blake and Ari Hoenig Jazz Side of the Moon.