If you're at all familiar with the Seattle music scene, you'll recognize guitarist Michael Powers as a local musical phenomena. With a career that began at the age of 15, Michael has single-handedly designed his pathway for success; composing, producing, recording, and playing on 6 complete CD's on his own record label. He has built a loyal following and makes a living playing music, something every musician desires to do, and has sold over 50,000 units collectively. Through perseverance and smart business sense, Michael has accomplished many goals, yet still sets his sights higher with each achievement. One of his aims is to reach beyond the local and regional area to touch a larger audience, an audience that would appreciate his blues-influenced style of contemporary jazz. With a long heralded reputation for respecting American jazz musicians, Michael decided to travel to Europe for the entire month of April and explore the opportunities there. "I had always heard Europe was a great place for jazz, especially for American musicians," Michael says, "I wanted to make some contacts to enable me to bring my band back."
Always of an ambitious sort, Michael booked his first flight to Europe with plans to visit Germany, Holland, France, and Denmark using a Eurail pass. He traveled lightly, packing a new, rather unique-looking guitar (from Klein Electric Guitars) with a cut-out body shape that made it easy to carry between countries. Munich was the place to begin, since a friend who was a keyboardist offered a place to stay.
Michael booked some performance dates in advance through friends, where he could showcase his solo guitar technique. Making the circuit at the local jazz jam sessions in each country, he inspired great reactions from the audience wherever he went. "I set up about 6 or 7 gigs ahead of time and got about 10 more while there," Michael adds.
Overall, he made several contacts with musicians, club owners and producers, accomplishing quite a bit in a short time span. He maintained his contacts during his travels through the use of email, where each town had "cyber cafes". This also allowed him to manage his record label back at home, too. "People can tell you all day about what it's like, but you never really know until you go yourself," Michael says.
He has some memorable stories, as some wonderful things happened during his trip, "In Franfurt I attended the Musik Messe, which is the world's biggest music convention (like the NAMM show in the U.S.) for manufacturers, artists, etc. I ran into Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock, and Greg Mackie (local mixer mogul of Mackie Designs in Woodinville and Michael Powers fan). There was also a new, innovative guitar being featured at a booth and I ordered one... and may end up representing the company, which is German, in the United States at the NAMM show in January." While in Munich he also worked with a few producers, recording for a pop/rock group that is releasing a CD independently. To listen to the audio file of that recording, click here.
Each country had its own experiences. Amsterdam will be remembered for the awesome caliber of its piano players, and for a trip on the train that sounds like a movie... "I was on the train and ran into world renowned trumpeter Benny Bailey (Lionel Hampton, Quincy Jones, Miles Davis). Benny pulled out his trumpet and I pulled out my guitar and we jammed during the entire ride!"
In a jaunt over to Paris, Michael hooked up with friend and former Seattle singer Frederic Tuxx. "Fred is playing a lot at Maxim's. He's doing well there, " Michael states, "Singers fare better over there, especially American singers, than musicians." At The Cavern, a club in Paris that had a jam session, Michael was fortunate to meet one of Europe's most accomplished bass players, Linley Marthe. Michael sat in with him and they immediately clicked, with Linley deeming Michael a ferocious musical "crocodile". Michael was surprised that most musicians he wished to keep in touch with did not own a computer... they could not afford it, and these were very accomplished musicians, "If you're known like Herbie Hancock then you can get paid. If you're not, it doesn't matter who you are or how good you are - it's tough to get a decent wage."
Now that Michael is home in Seattle, it's back to work on the projects before him, "I'm working on a solo album of acapella guitar, an album of duets which involves different instrumentalists and singers, and a third recording of new original contemporary jazz compositions. I also want to make a high quality DVD video of my performance." Surely this keeps Michael busy, but he still makes time to perform and promote his latest CD release, Blues That You Can Use, an original collection of blues in all its hues. When asked what he wants for the future, he says, "To continue to do what I do on a larger scale. I'm doing a lot of performing for corporate clients out of town in Hawaii, Alaska and San Francisco, but I'd also like to be recognized at an international level."
Given Michael's history, perhaps it's only a matter of time. Catch him in a live performance to enjoy the full scope of Michael's musical and performing talents before he disappears! To find a performance near you, to order any of his CD's, or for more information, access Michael's website at http://www.michaelpowersmusic.com.
Barbie Anaka - Summer 00
Sounds of Seattle's Senior Editor, Barbie Anaka, is also a singer/songwriter and producer in the Seattle area and can be reached through her website at http://www.barbieanaka.com.