Enthusiastically awaited by his legions of fans, this is Mike Stern's first instructional DVD. The DVD includes four live performances by Mike and his band at the 55 Bar in New York City, the historical club in which Mike has played for over 15 years, accompanied by many great musicians, including Jaco Pastorius.
Additionally, in an exclusive interview with New York-based jazz guitarist Satoshi Inoue, Stern offers his own analysis and explanation of each tune. The songs - a blues, a standard, a ballad, and a funk tune - were carefully selected by Mike himself in order to demonstrate every aspect of his guitar performance and techniques. He also gives insight to his background, influences, practice routines - and provides a thorough review of his gear configurations. This is Mike on Mike - everything you need to know about this versatile guitar master.
Special DVD features include: Lesson Sheets, Songs ("Bb Blues", "I Love You", "Wing And A Prayer", "Tipatina's").
DVD Video, NTSC, Regions: 1
"It was a huge opportunity. I can hardly describe it. I was absorbing a lot, learning a lot and even now I'm still working on the stuff Miles tought me then. It was very complicated and I've changed a lot as a person during the time with him. But in the end everything ended up okay." After a few years Miles asked him to join his band for a period of a another year, which was highly unusual. The productivity of these three years can be found on three records: "Man With The Horn", "Star People" and "We Want Miles".
Then Miles thought it was time for Mike to start playing his own kind of music and the collaboration ended. After that, Mike worked together with bass player Jaco Pastorius and the saxophonists David Sanborn and Michael Brecker. In 1989 Mike formed his own band together with saxophonist Bob Berg, who also had been playing with Miles Davis, drummer Dennis Chambers and bassist Lincoln Goines. This band was the definite breakthrough for both Mike and Bob. Except for a tour with the Brecker Brothers Reunion Band in 1994, Mike's playing a lot with his own band both in Europe and the States. (Text from the 'Jazz Marathon Groningen 1994 Program')