Hi and welcome to Guitartropolis. I'm Michael Reese, a community blogger on the site. That means I'll regularly be offering some ideas and perspectives on playing guitar. I'm a fulltime professional musician writing, recording and playing music in all types of venues from concert halls to local clubs. Music is my passion and what I've chosen to spend my life doing.
Working professionally fulltime means I'm involved in a lot of projects. My current projects are Spirit Machine, Acid Jazz Jam (A New Brain For Arnie), Tommy Gallagher's Incredible Friends, Tribe, Knights of Guitar, Fairlight Mariah and Tobacco Road. I'd like to thank my friend and fellow guitar player Mitchell Ashley for asking me to be a part of Guitartropolis. Okay now, lets talk some shop about guitars and start rockin'!
Here's a bit from my professional bio:
Michael's gifts and his creativity have been recognized over and over. In 1995, he was nominated as "Best Guitarist of the Year" at the prestigious Los Angeles Music Awards for his work on his first solo CD, "Dragonflyer." Later the same year, he performed in the Tommy Bolin Tribute Concert and was named an Official Fender Endorsee by Fender Musical Instruments, Inc.
In 1996 Michael formed the band F-5 with former Joe Walsh keyboardist Tommy Stephenson and Peter Frampton's former bass player, Stan Sheldon. Their first CD, "Dodging the Dream Killers," produced by famed Santana drummer, Michael Shrieve, was nominated by Jazz Central Station as one of the top ten best jazz CDs of the year
Michael has played blues, rock, country, funk and jazz in over seventy bands. He also formed several bands of his own which he used as vehicles for his original compositions. He opened for such rock luminaries as Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, John Mellencamp, Huey Lewis, Robben Ford, John Mayall, Alice Cooper and Steve Morse, the multi-talented lead guitarist and founder of the Dixie Dregs and current guitarist with the revived giants of the revived seventies rock scene, Deep Purple. Michael soon established himself as the finest guitarist ever to come out of Colorado. Before long, he was playing with such legends as Keith Emerson, of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Mick Fleetwood, a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, and Mitch Mitchell, the drummer who dept the beat for The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Michael has done extensive work in the studio. He has played on national commercials, feature film scores, Discovery Channel documentaries, ski movie icon Warren Miller's "Snowriders," and an upcoming IMAX film. His film credits include; "For Hire," starring Rob Lowe and Joe Montagna; "Bleeders," with Rutger Hauer; and "Rainbow," featuring Dan Akroyd and Bob Hoskins. In each of these films he worked with the highly regarded film composer Alan Reeves.
