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Mike Stockalper
Mike is an accomplished musician and songwriter, having obtained his music degree from UCSD summa cum laude in 2006, and awarded the Cheatham Prize for being the “most outstanding” musician in the Jazz program (for piano, improvisation, composition, and arranging). At UCSD he studied jazz piano with two-time Grammy Award winner Kamau Kenyatta (Gregory Porter, Hubert Laws, the Supremes, New Kids on the Block), classical piano with William Fried (La Jolla Symphony, SONOR, redfishbluefish), and composition/arranging with world-renown artists Anthony Davis and David Borgo. As a guitarist, Mike has gained much of his ability from playing or studying with several top-level guitarists in Southern California: Bob Boss – local jazz legend, Billy Alexander (John Waite, FEEL, YYNOT) – rock/country, Daniel Newell (Temecula Road, Alaina Blair) – soul, jazz, gospel. He briefly studied classical guitar at the University of Arizona. Over the years, Mike has also studied drums and applied his guitar knowledge to learn Ukulele and Bass as well. Mike also honed his songwriting chops studying songwriting with various teachers at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, IL, while learning from dozens of artists with whom he has collaborated.
Since college, Mike has performed with numerous bands, and solo artists in many styles, including jazz, pop, rock, country, blues, funk, and hip hop, both here in the US and overseas, on both piano and guitar. Currently Mike writes and produces music for Mango Melody (www.mangomelody.com), a band he co-founded. Mike plays rhythm and lead guitar, piano, bass, and is also responsible a great deal of the songwriting and musical direction for the band. Mango Melody plays regularly in San Diego and is currently working on its second album, as a follow up to its release of “Fruit of Happiness” in 2013. Click here to listen to the 2013 album online. In early 2014, Mike’s song “Don’t Be Scared to Try” (from Fruit of Happiness) was a featured piece at TEDx Encinitas’ “Just Jump In” event. You may have also caught some of his songwriting while listening to 91X and/or KPRI 102.1, which have aired the tunes “Waiting Room” and “The Beach Song.” Mango Melody has played many of San Diego’s top venues, including the House of Blues and the Belly Up Tavern.
Mike also plays solo as a jazz pianist and singer/songwriter. In February 2019, he released his first solo album “Light & Dark”. The album has a throwback 80’s rock retro feel, drawing on influences from music by the Cure, A-Ha, Tears for Fears, and also music from the earlier part of the 2000’s like Coldplay and Radiohead. You can visit his solo music website and/or listen here.
In addition, Mike also plays with local artists for private events, such as the Acoustic Brigade with Chris Duvall. Please see the booking page to hire Mike and one of his projects for your event.
Formerly, from 2015 to 2019, Mike was also the pianist and keyboardist for the indie-jazz outfit Montalban Quintet, an eclectic improvisation/composition ensemble. You can listen to the group playing here. The band’s first album was released in 2011, and they released another in late 2018 called “Under the River”.
Mike has also toured as a keyboardist, guitarist, backing vocalist, and a co-writer for the Alaina Blair band (www.alainablair.com). Alaina (the Voice, American Idol), has supported many well-known including Miranda Lambert, Aaron Lewis (Staind), 3 Doors Down, Macy Gray, Johnny Lang, Anna Nalick, Marc Cohn, Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son), Casey Abrams (American Idol). In 2013 and 2014, Mike joined the band for a series of tours in Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia. They also toured in the US, including Chicago and Hawaii. Click on this link to see a sample of Mike supporting Alaina on piano at the House of Blues, San Diego: HOB ALAINA. Other acts he has been a part of include: the Village Squares (Keys), Mattson 2 (piano), Aakaash Israni of Dawn of Midi (Piano), Daniel De La Cruz of Slightly Stoopid (Guitar), David Patrone, Tony and the Funky Chonies, DJ Shammy Dee, and others.
As a teacher, he is dedicated to helping each of his students meet their artistic needs and revels in watching them grow and succeed as musicians and artists. Whether his students just want to play and sing a few songs on guitar or piano for fun, or if they are committed to pursuing a serious career in the music industry, Mike makes himself completely available to help. He makes effective use of technology in his teaching and communication through various software and web-based resources, email, and phone, as well as through using recording equipment to create practice tools and diagnose performance flaws through playback recordings. Although he is easy-going, Mike takes his teaching very seriously and does everything in his power to share his musical knowledge and experience with his students. One of his greatest joys is to witness his students succeeding and watching the knowledge pass onto others.