Mike Reed (born May 26, 1974) is an American jazz drummer, bandleader, composer and music presenter.
Career Reed was born in Bielefeld, Germany, in 1974, but raised in Evanston, Illinois north of Chicago. He returned to Chicago in the 1990s after majoring in English and psychology at the University of Dayton in Ohio. He played with David Boykin Expanse, Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, and the Josh Berman Quartet. He leads the quintet Loose Assembly and the quartet People, Places & Things, with whom he recorded several albums on the 482 Music label.
In 2000 he and cornetist Josh Berman started the Sunday Transmission music series at the Hungry Brain bar in Chicago in 2000. He helped start Downtown Sound music series, a free weekly concert program in Chicago's Millennium Park that has included indie rock, world music, and contemporary soul. He is a founding director of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and until 2025 joined the committee that programs the annual Chicago Jazz Festival. Since 2013 he has been the founder and director of the Constellation performing arts venue in Chicago, originally as its for-profit (nominally) owner and then, from 2018, as its nonprofit organization president. Then in 2016 he bought and reopened the nearby Hungry Brain bar, which had closed in 2014, continuing to present live music there, as of 2024. He is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in Chicago and served as vice-chair between 2009 and 2011.
In 2009 while on their European tour, the four members of Reed's band People, Places, and Things - two of them African-American - were caught in a Neo-Nazi rally in the Czech Republic, putting their lives in danger. The police found the band members and provided them with a safe house and passage to Kraków, Poland.
Reed is the founder of the annual Sound & Gravity music festival, taking place in Chicago's Roscoe Village, which features an international retinue of experimental musicians each September. In 2026, Sounds & Gravity will compete with the Chicago Jazz Festival, where Reed used to serve as co-programmer.
Personal life Reed is a non-practicing Catholic.
Discography As leader/co-leader Release yearTitleLabelPersonnel/Notes2006In the Context of482 MusicDuets with Jeff Parker (guitar), Nicole Mitchell (flute), Jim Baker (piano)2007Last Year's Ghost482 MusicLoose Assembly with Josh Abrams (bass), Jason Adasiewicz (vibes), Tomeka Reid (cello), Greg Ward (alto saxophone)2008Proliferation482 MusicPeople, Places & Things with Greg Ward (alto saxophone), Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone), Jason Roebke (bass)2008The Speed of Change482 MusicLoose Assembly with Nicole Mitchell (flute), Josh Abrams (bass), Jason Adasiewicz (vibes), Tomeka Reid (cello), Greg Ward (alto saxophone)2009About Us482 MusicPeople, Places & Things with Greg Ward (alto saxophone), Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone), Jason Roebke (bass), David Boykin (tenor saxophone), Jeb Bishop (trombone), Jeff Parker (guitar)2010Stories and Negotiations482 MusicPeople, Places & Things with Greg Ward (alto saxophone), Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone), Jason Roebke (bass), Art Hoyle (trumpet, flugelhorn), Ira Sullivan (tenor saxophone), Julian Priester, Jeb Bishop (trombone)2010Empathetic Parts482 MusicLoose Assembly with Josh Abrams (bass), Jason Adasiewicz (vibes), Tomeka Reid (cello), Greg Ward (alto saxophone), Roscoe Mitchell (alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute)2011It Only Happened at Night482 MusicMy Silence with Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Nick Butcher (electronics, turntable, guitar, keyboards)2012Clean on the Corner482 MusicPeople, Places & Things with Greg Ward (alto saxophone), Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone), Jason Roebke (bass), Craig Taborn (piano), Josh Berman (cornet)2012New Myth/Old ScienceCuneiformLiving by Lanterns co-led with Reed and Jason Adasiewicz2013Second Cities Volume 1482 MusicPeople, Places & Things with Greg Ward (alto saxophone), Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone), Jason Roebke (bass), Ab Baars (tenor saxophone and clarinet), Eric Boeren (cornet), Joost Buis (trombone), Guus Janssen, Oscar Jan Hoogland (piano), Michael Moore (alto and clarinet), Felicity Provan (trumpet)2014In Pursuit of Magic482 MusicDuo with Roscoe Mitchell (reeds)2015A New Kind of Dance482 MusicPeople, Places & Things with Greg Ward (alto saxophone), Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone), Jason Roebke (bass), Marquis Hill (trumpet), Matthew Shipp (piano)2015Artifacts482 MusicArtifacts with Nicole Mitchell (flute, electronics), Tomeka Reid (cello)2017Flesh & Bone482 MusicPeople, Places & Things Greg Ward (alto saxophoneophone), Tim Haldeman (tenor saxophone), Jason Roebke (bass), Mike Reed (drums) with Ben Lamar Gay (cornet), Jason Stein (clarinet), Marvin Tate (words)2021Sun Beams of Shimmering LightAstral SpiritsDouglas R. Ewart (reeds) and Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet)2021...and then there's thisAstral Spirits RecordsArtifacts with Nicole Mitchell (flute, electronics), Tomeka Reid (cello)2024The Separatist PartyAstral Spirits, WeJazzBen Lamar Gay (cornet), Cooper Crain (guitar), Dan Quinlivan (synthesizer), Rob Frye (reeds), Marvin Tate (voice)
As sideperson Release yearLeaderTitleLabel2010Sun RoomsDelmark2011SpacerDelmark2014From the RegionDelmark2008Bill Dixon with Exploding Star OrchestraThrill Jockey2007We Are All from Somewhere ElseThrill Jockey2010Stars Have ShapesDelmark2010Matter Anti-MatterRogueArt2014High Red CenterDelmark
References
External links Official site Mike Reed: Jazz Timekeeper, Rock Tastemaker at NPR Music