Biography
Musician and composer Michael Landau was born and raised in Los Angeles. He grew up with the music of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Band. His grandfather Ernani Bernardi arranged and played the alto sax and clarinet during the "swing era" with the Dorsey Brothers and Benny Goodman. Michael began playing the guitar at age 11, as a teenager he quickly became very interested in jazz and electric jazz music. Weather Report, Pat Martino and Jaco Pastorius were some of his early obsessions. In the mid '70s Michael played in the L.A. dance clubs with an R&B band and toured the west coast with The Robben Ford Band which included members of the Yellow Jackets, Jimmy Haslip and Russell Ferrante. At age 19 he joined Boz Scaggs for a world tour and by the age of 20 he started to do session work with the help of long time friend Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro and Danny Kortchmar. Some session highlights over the coming years would include Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, BB King, James Taylor, Seal, Ray Charles and Rod Stewart. There is a complete session discography at allmusic.com. with over 600 records and soundtracks listed. In 1984 Michael toured again and recorded with Joni Mitchell. This tour was called "The Refuge Of The Roads" with Vinnie Colaiuta, Larry Klein and Russell Ferrante. In 1989 he released his first solo studio album "Tales from the Bulge", an instrumental record initially released in Japan and on "Creatchy" records in the US. Wayne Shorter, Steve Tavaglione, Vinnie Colaiuta, Carlos Vega, David Garfield and Jimmy Johnson were among some of the players on this release. In 1990 he formed the blues rock band "Burning Water" with his brother Teddy Landau, David Frazee and Carlos Vega. They put out 4 discs of original material and played in Japan, Los Angeles and parts of Texas. It was also around this time that he started to record and tour with James Taylor. In 1993 he won the readers poll for "Best Studio Guitarist" in "Guitar Player Magazine". In 1994 Michael formed "The Raging Honkies", a naughty rock band with Teddy Landau and Abe Laboriel Jr. They released 2 discs and toured Europe and the US. In 2001 he released a double live album of original material and a studio album "The Star Spangled Banner" on his own label "Unconscious Records". Michael has also produced and or mixed some selected artists and side projects including: Scott Henderson, The Jazz Ministry, Stolen Fish and Freak Juice. He currently tours and performs with his own Group, The Wreckers, Robben Ford, The Jazz Ministry, Stolen Fish, Hazey Jane and James Taylor. His most recent project, a double live album was released in October '06 on "Tone Center" records in the US, "Mascot Records" in Europe, and "Vega Music" in Japan. His current heroes and influences are Kirk Fletcher, Dustin Boyer and Derek Trucks. He likes sandwiches, old things, the earth, beer, playing music and spanning time with his beautiful wife Karen.
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