Mike Dillion Band ft. Brian Hass & Kris Myers Formally of Umphrey’s McGee with Acid Wrench
Mike Dillon’s latest album ‘Rosewood’ musically signifies transition and transformation. The 13-track collection was written and recorded during a period of profound change. Dillon found himself relocating from his fourteen year base in New Orleans to his current residence in Kansas City. This coincided with the beginning a new relationship that would result in marriage. Recorded intermittently between January 2018 and September 2019, its 13 majestic tracks swirl with the tangled and bittersweet emotions of one chapter ending as another began. Dillon created the album solely with vibraphone and percussion instruments and titled the record ‘Rosewood’ after the type of lumber used to make marimba bars.
“I started spending time in Kansas City in August 2017, where I’d previously lived in 1997,” explains Dillon. “My friend of twenty years, Peregrine Honig, invited me to see her beautiful art studio converted from an old church building called Greenwood Social Hall. By December, I brought my marimba there and would play for hours. The songs on this record wrote themselves in that sonically sacred space.”
Brian Roy Haas is an internationally celebrated, award-winning pianist, composer, producer and arranger with almost 40 albums of original compositions under his name. Starting piano at age 4 and winning his first International Piano Concerto Competition at 16, he knew his life’s mission early on. Haas received a full ride to the University of Tulsa and graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. While at TU, he founded Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. In the last 31 years JFJO has toured Europe 13 times and the Americas on a constant loop, played many of the world’s biggest music festivals such as North Sea, Berlin, Tampere, Montreal and sold out prestigious clubs like Bimhuis, Snug Harbor, Yoshi’s and The Blue Note. His illustrious career has seen Haas touring, composing and recording with Nikki Glaspie, George Porter Jr., Helen Gillet, The Funky Meters, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Nolatet, Rebirth Brass Band, Johnny Vidacovich, James Singleton, Matt Chamberlain, Les Claypool, Charlie Hunter and Punkadelick, a trio comprised of Haas, Nikki Glaspie and Mike Dillon. Punkadelick’s critically acclaimed album, Inflorescense, was released Winter of 2023 on Sony Red and the 17 month tour sold out multiple venues in America. When off the road, Haas has has worked within public schools as an improvisational music instructor for Arts and Humanities through National Endowment of The Arts.
With Umphrey’s, Myers has shared the stage with countless notable musicians such as Buddy Guy, Huey Lewis, Ivan Neville, Les Claypool, Stephen Perkins, Mike Keneally, Joshua Redman, Bela Fleck, Taj Mahal, Victor Wooten, Stanley Jordan, Gene Ween, Jeff Coffin, Bill Evans, Adrian Belew Trio, Derek Trucks and Jason Bonham.
