Album Notes

Native Washingtonian Mike Gillispie started playing the flute when he was 7 years old, studied with service band musicians and quickly added saxophones and more flutes to his bag. By the time he finished high school he was performing regularly throughout the area.

Between his playing and parallel involvement as a photographer of musicians, Mike has lived and played in New York, Boston and Los Angeles and has worked throughout the US and Europe. He credits Frank Wess and Yusef Lateef as major influences and has enjoyed performing and working with musicians Keter Betts, Bobby Durham, Sir Roland Hanna, Charles Fambrough, Shirley Scott, Ed Wiley Jr. and Webster Young.

Mike returned to DC in 1993 and plays out several times each week. He has regular shows of his Jazz Photography including a major exhibition at The Arts Club of Washington. He continues to perform, record, teach, study and "take my flute out for a walk," adding a long list of cities in Eastern Europe to his performance credits during the past few years. His first recording as a leader, "Theory and Practice" was released in 2006.