Джазовый вокалист Майкл Мейо представит свой квартет на фестивале в Стэнфорде

Taking the measure of Michael Mayo doesn’t come from a single concert. Already regarded as one of the finest male jazz vocalists on the scene, the Los Angeles singer has yet to fully spread his wings. Each time he swoops into the Bay Area he reveals another creative wrinkle beyond his tawny liquid tone and horn-like phrasing. Performances with three different ensembles offer several views of Mayo in the coming days, starting July 16 with his Stanford Jazz Festival debut at Dinkelspiel Auditorium. His quartet features a band of Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty led by New York pianist Caili O’Doherty. They performed together often in Sula, a world/jazz band led by Irish-born drummer Diego Joaquin Ramirez, after meeting in Boston about 15 years ago when O’Doherty was studying at Berklee and Mayo was at New England Conservatory. O’Doherty also featured Mayo on last year’s “Bluer Than Blue,” her acclaimed album exploring the overlooked songs of pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong (best known for her role in mapping her husband Louis Armstrong’s ascendance from gifted sideman to epochal leader). She remembers being mightily impressed by Mayo’s work in Sula, “where he functioned so well as an instrumentalist, harmonizing or serving as a background vocalist,” O’Doherty said. “He’s so gifted at scatting and navigating unusual chord changes, and the lines he comes up with have such a soulful quality.” Mayo also performs July 19 at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society with his L.A. band featuring pianist Andrew Freedman, bassist Nicholas Campbell, and drummer Robin Baytas. And when he makes his Monterey Jazz Festival debut Sept. 27, the prodigious Christian Euman will be taking over the drum chair. “I always try to keep in mind who I’m playing with when I’m programming a set, whether it changes song choices or arrangements,” Mayo said, discussing how he’ll take different approaches at Stanford and Bach. “I always want to let people shine and play to their strengths. With my own band there’s a lot that’s unsaid. With folks I know but don’t play with often I’m more explicit, and exciting new things happen inevitably because they’re new to the music.” Mayo’s growing skill as a composer and arranger has guided his rise since the release of his 2021 debut album on Mack Avenue, “Bones,” which focuses on his original compositions. The release made such an impression that he was named “International Artist of the Year” at Germany’s recently launched Deutscher Jazzpreis award ceremony in 2022. “It took a little time for me to find that approach, but I had a lot of great education that taught me what to do while I’m working on my sound,” he said. Attending jam sessions around New York, “carrying my mic and cable, by 2017 I sort of knew what I was going for and started writing the songs on ‘Bones.’” In truth, his musical education started in infancy. Both of his parents are successful musicians who’ve performed and recorded with a glittering constellation of artists, and he spent a good deal of his youth backstage at major clubs and venues, getting a close-up view of the action. His father, saxophonist, flutist and vocalist Scott Mayo, performed with Earth, Wind & Fire and Sérgio Mendes. His mother, vocalist Valerie Pinkston, was a top-shelf backup singer who worked with everyone from Beyoncé, Morrisey, and Luther Vandross to Whitney Houston, Annie Lennox, and Ray Charles. By the end of middle school Mayo realized he wanted to be a musician, a path his parents let him find on his own. “There was never pressure to make music, or against it,” he said. “Whenever I expressed interest, having two pros as parents was an amazing resource.” He moved back to Los Angeles at the end of 2023 and quickly set about recording his second album, 2024’s “Fly,” a project deeply shaped by the all-star cast of bassist Linda May Han Oh, pianist Shai Maestro, and drummer Nate Smith. He’s busy at work on his third Mack Avenue album when he’s not playing major festivals this summer at Newport and Monterey. Sadly, one of his latest projects is unlikely to be heard on Bay Area stages. Mayo was recently appointed the first-ever artist in residence for the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, a two-year stint through spring 2028 that involves presenting his own music arranged for the prolific 16-piece ensemble and programming other artists. “They have inhouse arrangers I’ve been talking to about bringing some of my compositions to life,” he said. “I’ve done a good amount of large ensemble writing myself, and I’m excited to try a lot of other approaches.” Contact Andrew Gilbert at [email protected]. MICHAEL MAYO QUARTET When & where: 7:30 p.m. July 16 at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University; $52-$62; stanfordjazz.org; 4:30 p.m. July 19 at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay; $50-$50 ($12 livestream); bachddsoc.org