Mike Casey – Calle Pizarro

Presenting ‘Calle Pizarro’, the new single from acclaimed saxophonist, producer & composer Mike Casey, heralding his forthcoming album ‘Valencia’, which will be released in late September 2024.

Branching out from his previous releases which focused mainly on the sax/bass/drums trio format, this happy, upbeat song uniquely fuses Mike’s childhood love of dancehall reggae & Caribbean music overall with jazz fusion for a catchy summer vibe, inspired by the street Mike lived on at the time (and its view of an gigantic banyan tree). Five years in the making, this was originally written & recorded in 2019 while a masters student at Berklee‘s Valencia Spain campus as part of his thesis. It is his third single from the upcoming album created during this time, and was premiered live at Auditori Nacional in Madrid, Spain‘s national concert hall in 2019 to enthusiastic response.

Los Angeles-based Mike Casey is a saxophone-focused recording artist, producer & composer who creates across many musical landscapes, not strictly limiting himself to whatever one may think is or isn’t “jazz”. Rather, his catalog and artistic practice seamlessly stretches across a plethora of jazz styles from post-bop to electronic fusion, with influences as varied as dubstep, drum’n’bass, funk, R&B, hip hop, concepts & styles from around the world – balancing an avant-garde, relentless creative spirit with relatable, poetic melodic sensibilities, a focus on cinematic tension/release, and a firm belief that rhythm is the most powerful force in music.

A rare case in the context of today’s scene, Mike’s instrumental music has moved audiences and had widespread industry support both within the jazz community as well as far outside of it – for example placements in the top 10 NETFLIX show “Spy Ops” recent Fortnite video game official Playstation playlist, video collaborations w/ phonk icon Ryan Celsius, interview on BBC mixed-genre shows with Amelia Poamz + BBC 6 airplay on their mainstream ‘New Music Fix’, BBC jazz shows + similar for NPR (airplay on both Morning Edition + Jazz Night in America) and even mainstream radios like Triple J, RTE, RTBF & more.

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