Mike Casey

Saxophonist Mike Casey navigates jazz improvisation with a dense, harmonically intricate style that bridges post-bop traditions and broader genre fusions. He first surfaced along the East Coast during the 2010s and introduced his voice on the 2017 release The Sound of Surprise: Live at the Side Door. After completing studies at the Berklee College of Music’s Spain campus, he issued Valencia in 2024.

Casey entered the world in 1993 and spent his formative years in Hartford, Connecticut, taking up the saxophone during fifth grade. As a teenager he already displayed exceptional performance and improvisational ability, which he refined at the Greater Hartford Academy for the Performing Arts—an institution whose alumni include Jimmy Greene, Josh Evans, and the Curtis Brothers. Following graduation he secured a full scholarship to the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz within the University of Hartford’s Hartt School, where he studied under saxophonist Abraham Burton, trombonist Steve Davis, bassist Nat Reeves, and additional faculty members. During the same period he earned a place in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Beyond his own projects, Casey has contributed as a sideman to Charles Tolliver, Tarus Mateen, Marc Cary, and numerous other artists. In 2017 he documented his debut album, The Sound of Surprise: Live at the Side Door, with his trio at the venue housed inside Connecticut’s historic Old Lyme Inn. The next year he followed with another live trio recording, Stay Surprising: Live at the Side Door.

Seeking to broaden his sonic range, Casey enrolled in 2019 at the Berklee College of Music’s master’s program in Contemporary Performance and Music Production on its Valencia Spain campus. While there he crafted two hip-hop- and DJ-oriented remix sets, Surprise! The Remixes, Pt. 1 and Surprise! The Remixes, Pt. 2, each revisiting material from his initial pair of live albums. The full-length studio effort Law of Attraction appeared in October 2020 and included guest work by Grammy-nominated pianist Benito Gonzalez. He resurfaced in 2024 with his second studio album, Valencia, shaped by his experiences in Spain.