Mic Gillette

“I live a charmed life,” says Mic Gillette, renowned trumpet player, prolific recording-artist, and founding member of the wildly successful funk band, Tower of Power. This luck began at an early age, when his musician father, legendary trombonist Ray Gillette, decided to pass up touring gigs with the likes of Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton , Count Basie, and Duke Ellington, to take a “day job” in order to be a Dad and music mentor to his four kids, then growing up in Pleasant Hill.

He Was My Hero

At only 4 years old, Mic was caught red-handed, practicing the trumpet lesson Ray had left for his oldest son. Surprised at the integrity of the sound, Ray was even more surprised when he discovered it was little Mic blowing those notes! He immediately took him to Best Music in Oakland, bought him a new trumpet, “the biggest Arbans book you ever saw” and began Mic’s instruction right there in the parking lot. “It was the best, and really the only formal lesson I've ever had,” recounts Mic. “After 3 hours I could read music.” From that moment on, Mic was self-taught, guided by his Dad, his innate talent, and the experiences born of playing.

Only two months later, Mic was hired at his first gig, playing “Taps” at a Memorial Day ceremony in a cemetery. “They hired me because I was so short they couldn’t see me behind the headstone,” laughs Mic. But he knew from this day on that he was destined to be a professional musician. “While my buddies would all say that they wanted to be a policeman, or a cowboy, or a fireman...I wanted to be a trumpet player.”

The Passion for Music is Lit

Gigging already with his Dads dixieland jazz quartet, Mic was light years ahead of his classmates in the elementary school band. Mic would be driven by the school janitor to the middle school to play lead trumpet in their symphonic band, just as he was bumped up to the high school band while still a middle school student.

In 1965, at age 15, Mic took up his second instrument, the trombone, at about the time he was forming a band called the Gotham City Crime Fighters, which later became the infamous Tower of Power band. As a high school sophomore, Mic would perform constantly from Thursday through Sunday, barely sleeping, yet managing to balance his professional life with his academic work. By senior year, he had finished so many requirements, he was able to enjoy 6 music classes, some of which he taught or designed himself, give private lessons, and continue to play with the "Tower."

You’ve Got to Funkifize

Despite scholarship offers from Julliard, Eastman School of Music and Guggenheim in Germany, Mic enrolled at Cal State Hayward, (where he met Bob Athayde his freshman year) in order to continue playing with the Tower. By the end of his first year at Hayward, the band had cut their first album, East Bay Grease.

At this point, Mic took a brief hiatus from the band to tour and record with the Top 10 band, Cold Blood. Upon his return to Tower a year later, they embarked on a huge US tour, opening for big names like Santana and Creedence Clearwater. As their fame spread, they became known as the premier horn band in the nation, touring with Elton John, the Rolling Stones, and Rod Stewart, to name a few. Throughout the next twenty years, the band continued to make music history, bringing their "fonky" sound to millions of adoring fans across 50 states and 27 countries worldwide. In addition, Mic made hundreds of recordings with the likes of Jefferson Starship, Huey Lewis and the News, Little Feat, and Santana.

Yet living on the fast track, touring 9-10 months out of each year, takes its toll. “Being on the road is one nighters; it’s everyday in a different airport, a different hotel, feeling worn out and eating bad food, .” admits Mic. Finally, at a huge concert with the Beach Boys at the Washington Monument on July 4th, 1984, Mic had a nightmare that his newborn daughter didn’t know who he was. At that instant, after 19 years with Tower of Power, he decided to quit the tour and stay home until his daughter graduated from high school.

Tower of Talent

As luck would have it, Mic's wife was involved in real estate sales at a new development in San Ramona, each lot in dire need of landscaping. Enter Mic, who seized upon an opportunity that grew into a thriving landscaping business. Coincidentally, Mic had a client whose child was in Bob Athayde's music program at Stanley. The connection was made, the two former college buddies reunited, and the legendary horn player was invited to share his wealth of talent and experience with Stanley students.

“Bob is an exceptional teacher,” praises Mic, “who knows not only how to captivate the excitement of these kids for music, but how to make all of us musicians who come into this room so excited to be part of this program as well. Look around. Its amazing what he has going on here!”

Thanks to the Lafayette Arts and Science Foundation, Mic brings his joyful playing and positive presence to the Stanley band room every Thursday, beginning bright and early at 7:25 a.m. with the Jazz Messengers. Urging his young charges to really belt out the brass, Mic exhorts, “Pick someone in the room about 30 feet away and part their hair! Fill the horn with air.”

Never one to rest on his laurels, Mic continues to perform, record, teach and arrange around northern California. In 1995 he produced a sing-along tape of children’s songs called Newvo Kids, involving both his wife and daughter. His current projects include a new CD release with Bay Area singer -songwriter Tony Adamo.

Who are his mentors? “Al Hirt, Ray Charles, who can take any kind of music and make it soul, and my Dad. He kept me grounded. He'd always point out the distinction between strong confidence and being cocky. You dont step over that line.”

Mic emphasizes the need for young musicians to be both adventuresome and persevering in their music . “Stay at it. Don’t give up! Try different things and see what really fits. Play with everyone you can and let all music influence your life.”

For more on Mic, visit his website.