Mike Conrad Trio

About:  

Mike Conrad is a composer and improviser currently serving as Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Northern Iowa. He has been recognized for his arranging and composing with four ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards and seven awards from Downbeat Magazine, as well as many other accolades. Conrad’s music has been performed all over the world, including a 2017 concert by the Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands, a 2014 Carnegie Hall Premiere, and a performance at the US Presidential Inauguration in 2013.

As a pianist and trombonist, he has toured China, played at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, and appeared at various jazz festivals and venues all over the United States. Aside from his own projects like the All Angles Orchestra, the Mike Conrad Trio, and the co-led big band COLOSSUS, Conrad has enjoyed performing and/or recording with Alexa Tarantino, Dave Chisholm, the Bob Washut Dodectet, Christopher’s Very Happy. Band., the Max Wellman Big Band, and many other groups. Some of his more recent projects include a reimagination of Beethoven’s 3rd symphony in collaboration with the Berlin-based Stegreif Orchester, and a suite of four Iowa-inspired big band pieces for the Iowa Jazz Composers Orchestra, which he founded. Conrad’s latest jazz trio project, “Reconnect,” features Katie Ernst on bass and Cassius Goens III on drums.

Contact Information:

Summer of the Arts Festivals:  

• 2022 Iowa City Jazz Festival