Mike Bond Pianist One of the most striking qualities of Mike Bond’s superb debut recording, The Honorable Ones, is the understated, sophisticated way in which the 30-year-old pianist-composer subsumes his abundant technique for imperatives of beauty and self-expression. This springs directly from his personal influences and history. Bond, a Rutgers University graduate, received the Excellence in Jazz Performance Award and the Arthur G. Humphrey award for Music Education in 2012. Bond met Orrin Evans, who serves as Artistic Producer of The Honorable Ones. He graduated with a Bachelor's of Music Degree in both Jazz Performance and Music Education. In addition to periodically hiring Bond to play piano in his Captain Black Big Band, Evans recommended him to bass maestro Curtis Lundy, who hired Bond for his first New York engagement. Meanwhile, Bond spent two years working for SmallsLIVE, the imprint of Smalls Jazz Club, where he learned to produce albums and video-edit, while meeting numerous musicians, promoters and producers.

These days, Bond boasts a c.v. that includes shows with the magisterial tap dancer Savion Glover, trombone giant Conrad Herwig, masters like saxophonists Mark Gross, Joe Ford and Bruce Williams and trumpeters Joe Magnarelli and Duane Eubanks. He is a featured sideman on guitarist Jean Chaumont’s debut album “The Beauty Of Differences” which received a 4 star review in Downbeat Magazine. Bond is also an accomplished music director, who has arranged and conducted bands in spaces like NJPAC, Bucks County Playhouse, and Rider University, having directed for artists such as the aforementioned Savion Glover, and Andrew Polec, Broadway’s lead in Jim Steinman’s “Bat Out of Hell” musical.