In addition to playing and writing for City of Four, Mike leads his own quartet and performs with many of the region’s premiere bands and jazz collectives, including with Guggenheim fellow Felipe Salles’ Interconnections Ensemble, which just released its second critically-acclaimed album. Mike has played saxophone in historic venues ranging from Boston’s Symphony Hall to legendary Manhattan jazz clubs like Birdland, Dizzy’s, and The Jazz Gallery.

As a performer, Mike has had the privilege to perform on stage with iconic figures including Sean Jones, Warren Wolf, Ambrose Akinmusire, Randy Brecker, Dick Oatts, Dave Liebman, Sheila Jordan, Chico Pinheiro, and Karrin Allyson. Mike is an active freelancer and is contracted to perform in concerts with nationally-touring groups across multiple genres, like with the platinum-selling rock group, 10,000 Maniacs, in some of their recent MA shows.

In 2019, Mike was named winning composer in the Ithaca College Jazz Ensemble Composition Contest for his piece, “That Familiar Connection”. As a composer, he has also received a Herb Alpert Foundation Young Jazz Composer award from ASCAP for his composition, “Time to Go”. Through the course of his college studies, Mike accumulated five music awards from DownBeat Magazine for his performances and musical arrangements. Mike is a commissioned composer of jazz, chamber, and symphonic music.

A graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Mike holds a Master of Music in Jazz Arranging and Composition. He earned his bachelor’s degrees at UMass in Jazz and Afro-American Music as well as Acoustics. At UMass, Mike studied with Felipe Salles, Lynn Klock, Jeffrey W. Holmes, and Tom Giampietro. Mike’s early saxophone mentors include William DiNuzzio and Corey Tunnessen.

Mike’s Links:  Website – Facebook – Instagram – Soundcloud

Christian A. Tremblay (aka CAT, or Catman) is a composer of experimental jazz/rock/funk music, a prolific producer of hip hop and electronic music (under the name Catman), and a trained pianist and keyboardist. He holds a B.A. in Jazz Piano, as well a Master’s degree in jazz composition. As a composer, Christian has written countless songs and arrangements for ensembles of all sizes, including a six movement big band suite and over a dozen other compositions for big band or studio orchestra. His interest in dense unusual textures often features in his harmonic and aesthetic compositional choices.

As the electronic music artist Catman, he has constructed a abstract blend of jazz fusion, lo-fi hip hop, R&B/Gospel, and psychedelia. He creates sample-based and composition-based beats, his own vocal productions, and various collaborations with other local artists. As Catman, he has independently released four EPs, three mixtapes, and countless singles. His most recent mixtape “Left to Our Own Devices” is available on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

Christian’s signature writing style uses lyrical melodies and dense harmonies woven intricately with sentimentality; however, a core component of his Catman work is the juxtaposition of these concepts with contrastingly hard-hitting drums and synthesizers. Christian enjoys exploring new and unusual sounds and textures with creative synthesis, effects processing, and sampling. He is influenced by a wide variety of artists, including Herbie Hancock, Madlib, J Dilla, Flying Lotus, Knower, Knxwledge, Meshuggah, and Thundercat.

In addition to writing and performing with City of Four, he is the live keyboardist for rapper/producer Latrell James, as well as the keyboardist, producer, and occasional vocalist for his “psychedelic gospel” trio TiDES. He formed TiDES in 2018 with collaborators Ryan Garvey (guitarist/songwriter aka RVRSR) and Fredua Boakye (vocalist for Bad Rabbits). Their independently released debut EP “Soon to Be” is available on major platforms.

Christian’s Links:  Facebook – Instagram – Soundcloud – Bandcamp

Blain is connected to the Boston music scene through work with many groups in addition to City of Four, including bands like Miss Fairchild and Dopelotus. When Blain is not performing, he can be found doing session work at one of the area’s studios or curating live events. With a great depth of experience in tour booking across the US, Blain continues this work in Boston booking shows, music festivals, charity events, and curated jazz nights throughout the city. Blain writes and produces music under his own name, and for other artists in many different genres.

As a performer, Blain has played with Amy and the Engine, The George Woods Band, Heather Woods, Proper Company, Liza Smith and the Tiny Little Lies, Erin Bonnie, Tap Roots, The Boston Philharmonic Funk Foundation, Perfect Mark, Saucy Lady, The Houston Bernard Band, and Ed Mann (Of Frank Zappa fame).

 

Raised in the small town of Tipton, IN, Blain showed an interest in music and poetry at a young age. He found his true voice on the bass guitar at age 13 and began performing in bands all around his home state. By age 17, he had won numerous statewide ‘Battle of the Bands’ competitions and opened for such acts as Staind, Nickelback, and Chris Daughtry.

 

At 18, Blain and his band, The Post Script, booked and executed their first independent tour and would go on to play hundreds of shows a year. After this, Blain’s prowess as a booking agent and promoter was on full display with groups like The Waldemere Revival, which played around 200 shows at festivals and venues across the US in the year he played and booked for them. Blain remained an active member of Indiana’s music scene, playing with artists like The Max Allen Band and Brooke Row, until earning a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in 2012 and subsequently relocating to Boston. At Berklee, Blain worked toward a dual major in music production, engineering, and bass performance.

Blain’s Links:  Website – Facebook – Instagram – Soundcloud

In addition to City of Four, Steve is currently the drummer for Strange Changes, Tom Dowd Group, RetroCard, Pangea, and FWS Trio, among other groups. His diverse and expansive performance experience has taken him all around Boston/Massachusetts, New York, throughout greater New England, and across the US and Canada.  Steve is best known for his unique and dynamic sound as a virtuosic improvisational and expressive drummer drawing influence from his backgrounds in rock, jazz and hip hop, but his versatility has allowed him the experience of performing in a wide variety of other contexts, including his work with Latin Grammy winner Nella Rojas of Venezuela, country singer and NBC’s The Voice finalist Kristen Merlin of Nashville, and renown singer Jaasiel Sança of Cape Verde, to name a few. In addition to his busy schedule as a performer, Steve teaches drum lessons both privately and through Milton (MA) Public Schools.

Hailing from the South Shore of Massachusetts, Steve has been playing music since he was 12 years old. Beginning as a classically-trained percussionist, he earned the honor of section leader in the Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and he toured the UK with that band in the summer of 2006.  He was also awarded first chair percussion in the Massachusetts All State Orchestra in 2007 and performed with that ensemble at Symphony Hall.  When it came time to decide on a career, however, Steve turned his focus entirely to the drum set, and went on to earn his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Drums Performance from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in Montreal, where he graduated with distinction in 2011. Since then he has settled in Quincy, MA.

Steve’s Links:  Facebook – Instagram – Soundcloud