Mike Holober

A versatile pianist, composer, arranger, Mike Holober is best known for his work as the leader of the Gotham Jazz Orchestra. He first emerged as a sideman in New York in the early '90s, and gained wider recognition with large ensembles, including stints conducting the Westchester Jazz Orchestra and Germany's hr-Big Band. Along with his teaching work at New York's City College, he has recorded a handful of solo albums with his small group featuring drummer Brian Blade, including 2003's Canyon, 2006's Wish List, and 2015's Balancing Act. In 2020, he earned a Grammy nomination for his Gotham Jazz Orchestra album Hiding Out. Born in 1957 in Brooklyn, Holober grew up on Long Island where he studied piano, flute, and saxophone. After high school, he further honed his skills at SUNY Oneonta before earning his master's degree in classical piano from Binghamton University. After moving to New York in 1986, he began working as a jazz sideman and composer. His most prominent early association was as an accompanist for baritone saxophonist Nick Brignola, working alongside him in the late '90s before Brignola's death in 2002. Since that time, Holober has worked in small- and large-group contexts, writing original music that has put him in good company with fellow N.Y.C. chartsmiths. His modern jazz works have been performed or recorded by the hr-Bigband in Germany, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Airmen of Note, the Joe Roccisano Nonet, and the Prism and New York Saxophone Quartets. As an accompanying pianist, Holober has collaborated with Tim Ries and his Rolling Stones Project, John Pattitucci, Pete McGuinness, Dave Pietro, Charles Pillow, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Brian Blade, Scott Colley, John Abercrombie, Joe Magnarelli, Tim Hagans, Peter Erskine, and others. The Gotham Jazz Orchestra is his own big band, releasing Thought Trains featuring Ron Carter in 2005 and Quake in 2009. Holober's first small-ensemble recording, the Fred Hersch-produced Canyon, was released in 2003 and featured his group with saxophonist Tim Ries, guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade. Wish List followed in 2006 and featured the same group with John Patitucci taking over the bass chair from Colley. In 2015, he again played with Blade, as well as bassist John Hebert, for Balancing Act. Along with his solo work, Holober has held numerous artistic positions, including working as associate director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, joining Bob Brookmeyer, Manny Albam, and Jim McNeely. He is the artistic director and conductor of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, a nonprofit organization that performs a regular program of newly commissioned works each year. Holober represented the U.S. as a cultural envoy for the State Department in the summer of 2005 playing concerts in Venezuela, and has been composer in residence for the Gotham Wind Symphony since 2004. From 2007 to 2013, he worked as the artistic director and conductor of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, a nonprofit organization that performs a regular program of newly commissioned works each year. Also, from 2011 to 2015, he was Associate Guest Conductor of Germany's hr-Big Band. He is a full-professor at City College of New York where he directs jazz ensembles and teaches courses in composition and arranging. In 2017, he was named City College's inaugural Stuart Z. Katz Professor in the Humanities and the Arts for his extended work This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters. He is a multiple award winner of the MacDowell Fellowship, and has garnered commissions from the Ucross Foundation, the Corporation of Yaddo Guest, the University of Michigan, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art funded by the Pew Charitable Trust. Other international credits include a tour as guest artist with the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, the RIAS Big Band in Berlin, and the UMO Big Band in Helsinki, Finland. In 2019, Holober released his third album with the Gotham Jazz Orchestra, Hiding Out, which earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.
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