Mike Garson
| Mike Garson | |
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Garson in Paris, 2006
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael David Garson |
| Born |
July 29, 1945 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Rock, industrial, techno, jazz, funk, experimental, folk, instrumental, ambient |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboards, synthesizers, drums, percussion, organ, vibraphone, stylophone |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Website | www |
 Oral History, Mike Garson reflects on his greatest musical influences. Interview date October 3, 2011, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library
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Michael David "Mike" Garson (born July 29, 1945) is an American pianist, who has worked, among others, with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Billy Corgan, Free Flight, and The Smashing Pumpkins. A comprehensive biography of his life and career to date was published by Fantom (UK) in 2015, under the title Bowie's Piano Man: The Life of Mike Garson, written by fellow pianist Clifford Slapper.
After graduating from Brooklyn College with a music degree in 1970, Garson was a member of rock/country/jazz band Brethren with Rick Marotta, Tom Cosgrove and Stu Woods. They recorded two hard-to-find albums on the Tiffany label, which featured guest piano and liner notes by Dr. John (and album photography by Murray Head, who scored a hit with "Say it Ain't So Joe," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and later with the single "One Night In Bangkok").
Garson also earned notice when he played on the I'm the One album by early 1970s experimental artist Annette Peacock. Bowie asked Peacock to join him on a tour; she declined, but Garson began an enduring working relationship with Bowie.
Garson provided the piano and keyboard backing on the later Ziggy Stardust tour of 1972-73 and his contribution to "Aladdin Sane" (1973) gave the song an avant-garde jazz feel with lengthy and sometimes atonal piano solos.
I had told Bowie about the avant-garde thing. When I was recording the "Aladdin Sane" track for Bowie, it was just two chords, an A and a G chord, and the band was playing very simple English rock and roll. And Bowie said: 'play a solo on this.' I had just met him, so I played a blues solo, but then he said: 'No, that's not what I want.' And then I played a Latin solo. Again, Bowie said: 'No no, that's not what I want.' He then continued: 'You told me you play that avant-garde music. Play that stuff!' And I said: 'Are you sure? 'Cause you might not be working anymore!'. So I did the solo that everybody knows today, in one take. And to this day, I still receive emails about it. Every day. I always tell people that Bowie is the best producer I ever met, because he lets me do my thing.
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