Mike Neu - Saxophonist, Woodwinds Specialist, Composer/Arranger
Michael Neu, born in 1992, has been a musician most of his life, starting at the age of 9 with a short-lived stint in violin lessons. Soon after, the clarinet became his next point of interest before he was even in the Webster Groves band program in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. The clarinet remained his focus until middle school when he picked up the guitar, bass clarinet, and most importantly, tenor sax. Performing in the school concert and jazz bands, Michael found himself encircled with some lifelong musicians and friends who now span the U.S. to this day. Throughout his high school experience, Michael led a life full of after-school band meetups and some sports activities. His first band, Noseguard, took him on as a guitarist, and he was hooked from then on. While under tutilage of highschool band director Kevin Cole, Michael took lessons for guitar from Ryan Hoss and saxophone from Paul DeMarinis.
Michael attended the University of Missouri - Columbia in centralized Columbia, MO, where he obtained a wealth of experiences in their music program, including tours, conferences, competitions, master classes, artist residencies, and guest lessons from a myriad of disciplines. His main saxophone professor was Leo Saguiguit, and his director of jazz was Dr. Arthur White. By the end of his stay, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance with a Certificate in Jazz Studies in 2016. By this time, he had been part of the resurgence of the community band, the Columbia Jazz Orchestra, which still holds its monthly residency at Broadway Brewery every last Monday to this day. Simultaneously, Michael began covering reed parts in musical pit orchestras for Stephens College, Columbia College, local high schools (Columbia, MO), and the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre.
Over the years, Michael has balanced his varied musical life with a plethora of day jobs: food service, giving music lessons, generating notated music for bands and individuals, tuning pianos, and busking (street performance). The bands and individuals Michael works with are always kindred hearts and hard workers that blend structure with flexibility, musically pushing the envelope on stage and in the studio. Such bands include Hazard To Ya Booty, Brother Francis and the Soultones, Pressure - A Billy Joel Tribute, The Saturday Brothers, The Grooveliner, Joystick Drift, Samba Bom, Certain Bass, running under his own name Nappysax and the Sick-Nasties, his French music act Nappysax et Les Humains, and the Daft Punk Tribute he runs as the Crescendolls, as well as a solo performer on the streets of St. Louis. Individuals he has shared the stage with range from legit pros (artist residencies from Univ.) and local legends. Currently, Mike sits in where the vibe is chill and doesn't shy away from the situation you'd least expect a sax to be involved, from funk to jazz, classical flair, and stretching out on jams. You'll find Michael can fit in any musical situation he finds himself in. You can find features of his playing on Spotify as Nappysax.