Mike Marshall (bluegrass musician)
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Mike Marshall is a mandolin player and has been an instrumental part of new acoustic music for the past 25 years. He has performed and recording with many musicians in a variety of styles, including bluegrass, classical, jazz and Brazilian music. In addition to several instruments in the mandolin family, Marshall also plays the guitar and violin.
Marshall has recorded and toured with other contemporary acoustic musicians such as David Grisman, Tony Rice, Mark O'Connor, Stéphane Grappelli, Darol Anger, Barbara Higbie, and Jerry Douglas. His two recordings on the Sony Classical label: Uncommon Ritual with banjo innovator Béla Fleck and bassist Edgar Meyer; and Short Trip Home with violinist Joshua Bell, mandolinist Sam Bush and Meyer were both on the Billboard Classical Music charts.
Marshall and his long time partner, Darol Anger, have released 6 albums as a duo on Compass and Windham Hill Records. Together they have also recorded with their experimental bluegrass group Psychograss with guitarist David Grier, banjo player Tony Trischka and bassist Todd Phillips.
From 1984 till 1988 Mike Marshall was part of the group Montreux, named for the Montreux Jazz Festival where they played a concert which was good enough to be released as a Windham Hill record (Live At Montreux - Darol Anger/Barbara Higbie Quintet). The group released two studio recordings before breaking up (Sign Language and Let Them Say).
Marshall's interest in classical music led to his co-founding in 1986 of Modern Mandolin Quartet, a string quartet of mandolin family instruments. The group released four recordings for Windham Hill Records and in 1995, the Quartet made its Carnegie Hall debut.
Mike has worked with Chris Thile from the group Nickel Creek. Their CD Into the Cauldron was released in 2003 on Sugar Hill Records and was listed in the top ten of Amazon.com’s favorite recordings for 2003.
In addition to touring and recording regularly, Mike is also a partner in a new music label, Adventure Music, which is dedicated to releasing music from Brazil as well as Mike’s own projects. His latest releases include Serenata, a duet recording of with pianist Jovino Santos Neto featuring the compositions of Hermeto Pascoal, and an album by his Brazilian group Choro Famoso.
Besides his musical talents, Marshall is a cook and has been known to trade lessons (music for cooking craft) with some of the Bay Area's finest chefs. He is also a well-known producer, based on his Oakland Gatorland Studios.
He is married to a violinist, Kaila Flexer, a Klezmer musician. They have a daughter.
