MICHAEL KLEVAY

saxophone

Mike began playing the saxophone when he was 10 years old, and his interest in jazz was born early in high school when he first heard the music of Charlie Parker. His professional music career began when he joined Dick King's Classic Swing Band in Grand Forks, North Dakota, his place of birth. He would be nowhere without his teachers Glen Wolf, Elizabeth Rheude, Tom Walsh, and Eugene Rousseau, but has also been driven by the examples set by Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and Joe Henderson.

Mike enjoys the opportunity that Reclining offers to play different styles of music, and he appreciates all of the solo space. When not busy training in infectious diseases at the University of Iowa, he can also be heard performing with New Venue Big Band.