Michael Mondesir

Michael Mondesir (born 6 February 1966 in London) is an English jazz bass guitarist, and composer He is one of the most in demand jazz bass players in Europe, touring regularly with Billy Cobham,Cream (band) drummer Ginger Baker and James Brown musical director Pee Wee Ellis. He is credited as bass player on over twenty major name jazz albums.

Mondesir, brother of drummer Mark Mondesir, started playing drums at the age of 11 and moved to bass guitar when he was 16. Like his brother he is largely self-taught. He played with this fusion-oriented music in a trio called EMJIEM (with guitarist Hawi Gondwe). Then he and his brother visited Weekend Jazz Workshops in North London organized by Ian Carr and from the late 1980s started playing with jazz musicians like the saxophonists Courtney Pine, Iain Ballamy and Steve Williamson, and with Django Bates (in "Human Chain"), Billy Cobham,Jeff Beck,John McLaughlin, Annette Peacock and pianist Jason Rebello.

The Rough Guide To Jazz describes Mondesir as "a superb bassist with phenomenal concentration and excellent time"

In 2009, Mondesir joined the Thriller – Live world tour celebrating the life of Michael Jackson. The Brisbane Weekender noted that Michael Mondesir "boasted instrumental skills that made the crowd go wild".

He has performed with artists including Jeff Beck, Billy Cobham, Ginger Baker, Eddie Harris, Jack DeJohnette,John McLaughlin,Oumou Sangare, Usher, Whitney Houston, Imogen Heap, Sir George Martin, State of Bengal, Hermeto Pascoal,David Garibaldi, Jan Hammer,Ty, Zoe Rahman, Jim Mullen, Ronnie Wood,John Serry, Andy Summers, Django Bates,Gary Husband, Chante Moore, Lulu, Nitin Sawhney, Lenny White, Chad Smith, Courtney Pine, Jocelyn BrownJason Rebello, Brice Wassy, Neneh Cherry, Nikki Yeoh, Bernard Purdie, Iain BallamyBill Bruford, Julian Joseph, Leni Stern, Mory Kante, Keith More, Trilok Gurtu, Mike Lindup, Aster Aweke, S-Club 7, Talvin Singh and Pee Wee Ellis.

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Wikipedia