Mike Gaches Quartet

You may not have heard of the name Mike Gaches, but chances are, you have probably heard the sound of his trumpet. The truth is, Mike has been playing lead trumpet for the Dunedin City Jazz Orchestra since 2017, but few are aware that Mike has a long history in the United States as a lead trumpet player with College Big Bands. Those who have heard him will know he plays high, fast and loud in Big Bands but can also be mellow, warm and blues in a small combo context (remember his flugelhorn playing in the Birth of the Cool concert at Hanover Hall?).

Thanks to the DJC’s new “Pop-Up” venue at the Dish, Mike now gets the chance to show what he can really do as a band leader of the Mike Gaches Quartet, picking his own tunes and showcasing the full range of melody, rhythmic and dynamic ability. For this gig he will be teaming up with Bill Martin, Craig Sinclair and Erik Dekker: this is a completely new band for the Dunedin jazz scene, which opens up many new possibilities for improvisation, with Martin’s flair combined with Sinclair’s experience on the double bass and Dekker’s youthful enthusiasm and drumming technique.

Repertoire will include a range of bebop, funk and jazz standards performed by players such as Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw.

Tickets can be purchased online at

Eventfinda for $16 (including booking fee) or $20 cash on the door. Concessions are $10 for students / unwaged / children.

Timing: 6pm Doors Open, 7pm Set One, 8pm Set Two, 9pm finish.

Personnel
Mike Gaches: Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Bill Martin: keyboard
Craig Sinclair: Double Bass
Erik Dekker: drums

Full Bio:
Mike grew up in eastern Kansas in the central United States of America. He started playing trumpet at 8 yrs old and shared his love of music with sports and academics through High school. He started playing in Big Bands in middle school and continued through college as he studied as an Applied Trumpet performance major. After starting college in 1976 in Kansas and then almost completing his music degree at UCLA in Los Angeles he left college and attended studio school in Los Angeles. Deciding to go back to school and study Electronics he headed East and played a summer at the Aspen Music festival before heading back to Kansas and completing a Masters in Electrical Engineering. Throughout this time Mike played lead trumpet in the various big bands where he went to school and performed on the side with numerous combo and dance bands.

Getting married in 1985 Mike and his wife moved to Phoenix Arizona, he to start a career as an Electrical Engineer with Motorola and his wife Sonya as an elementary school teacher. Mike took a few years off from playing trumpet but through a contact of his wife’s he got the opportunity to audition for a local Community College affiliated Big Band made up mostly of adult musicians in the Phoenix area. This opportunity re-kindled the playing desire and over the next 20 years Mike played lead in several Community College Big Bands as well as being the trumpet player in a 11 piece Rhythm and Blues band called C.C. Ryder Express for over 15 years featuring music of Chicago, Tower of Power, Blood Sweat and Tears, and Earth Wind and Fire as well as many other artists.

Along the way Mike and Sonya raised three kids, now scattered around the globe, Mike worked with Motorola, Intel, and Taser as Sonya left early child teaching to complete a Doctorate in Education. This led Sonya to an opportunity to teach at the University of Otago and in 2017. Mike found a position with Fisher and Paykel. Mike again stopped playing trumpet for a couple of years as he worked through hip replacement surgeries. This January Mike got an opportunity to play in the Dunedin City Jazz Orchestra and has become excited about playing again. Hopefully the coming years will see many opportunities to play his horn.