Mike
Cohen, guitar, received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition
at Berklee College of Music and his Ph.D. at UC
Berkeley. While in Boston, he studied composition with Hugo
Norden, guitar with William Leavitt and Mick Goodrick, and improvisation
with Gary Burton and Ran Blake. As leader of the City Lights
Jazz Ensemble, Mike was familiar
to club audiences in the Boston and greater New England area. He
arranged and conducted music based on Haitian Voodoo rhythms for
the Haitian jazz group Volo
Volo. With them, he released the album La Nature. A
fruitful collaboration with the Haitian poet and songwriter, Jean-Claude
Martineau, resulted in the album Min Rara. In a third album, SAM,
Mike's compositions are the subject of experimental jazz improvisation.
In addition to writing and arranging for many jazz groups, he has
written orchestral, chamber, and electronic pieces. While at UC
Berkeley, Mike led an interdisciplinary
seminar series in computer music.
Mike has traveled throughout Haiti recording the
rhythms played at Voodoo ceremonies. In Indonesia, he recorded ancient styles of
Gamelan music not usually heard outside a few small villages. He takes special
pleasure in making these rarely heard forms accessible to jazz audiences.
Mike writes for and leads his own sextet, The
Mike Cohen Sextet, which includes FSJ drummer Carlos Almeida and FSJ pianist
Walter Bankovitch (who contributes his own compositions to the band). They
released their first CD, "Fugue," in 1997. In 2000 The Mike
Cohen Sextet appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
As Vice President of Dialog Research
and Development at Nuance, Dr. Cohen is one of three technical founders
(1994). Previously, he was at SRI's Speech Technology and Research Lab for
more than ten years. At Nuance, Dr. Cohen and his team are responsible for the
development of advanced technology and the design of voice user interfaces.
Mike coauthored the book "Voice User Interface Design," published
by Addison-Wesley in January 2004.
Mike lives in Portola Valley with
spouse Beth Taylor, and children Anika (born 1997) and Toby (born 2001).
Mike
Cohen, guitar, received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition
at Berklee College of Music and his Ph.D. at UC
Berkeley. While in Boston, he studied composition with Hugo
Norden, guitar with William Leavitt and Mick Goodrick, and improvisation
with Gary Burton and Ran Blake. As leader of the City Lights
Jazz Ensemble, Mike was familiar
to club audiences in the Boston and greater New England area. He
arranged and conducted music based on Haitian Voodoo rhythms for
the Haitian jazz group Volo
Volo. With them, he released the album La Nature. A
fruitful collaboration with the Haitian poet and songwriter, Jean-Claude
Martineau, resulted in the album Min Rara. In a third album, SAM,
Mike's compositions are the subject of experimental jazz improvisation.
In addition to writing and arranging for many jazz groups, he has
written orchestral, chamber, and electronic pieces. While at UC
Berkeley, Mike led an interdisciplinary
seminar series in computer music.