Goin’ Home
Stern eventually began to feel he should leave the academic environment of Berklee and return to D.C. So, home he
went, and before long he was playing rock and blues gigs throughout the region. “I’d studied with Pat Methany for
about a year, before I went home. Eventually I went back to Berklee, and Pat told me then: ‘School is great, but you
gotta get out and play.’”
It was the message Mike needed to hear. He decided that he’d have to work harder than ever to make something happen,
and by 1976 he was ready for the next step up the ladder. Word got out that the long-established band Blood Sweat &
Tears was looking for a guitarist, and Stern was among the many who took the test. “There were all kinds of cats
auditioning for that band, but [drummer] Bobby Colomby gave me the call. I auditioned just for the sake of doing it,
and I got the gig. Man, if you can get that kind of experience, it will do so much!”
The spot in BS&T proved to be a lucky one, even though the band was well past its days as a hit machine. Still, BS&T
was never a band that suffered fools lightly, and Mike knew he was working in the company of some seriously talented
players. Among them was Jaco Pastorius, a former drummer who had quickly made a name for himself as the self-proclaimed
king of the electric bass. The two quickly struck up a friendship, and since then Jaco’s unmistakable mastery of the
fretless Precision bass has remained an inspiration for Stern.
New York: The Core Issue
Things change within and without, so Mike knew that Boston couldn’t be his home base forever. Besides, now that he was
gigging with career performers and studio veterans, he wasn't going to be sitting around the house much. So, once his
career was off the ground he made the move to New York. He got used to the pace of it easily enough, and soon he and
his girlfriend Leni (whom he eventually married) were offered a loft above his favorite jazz haunt, 55 Grand St. They
just couldn’t say no to that. Imagine you’re actually living at the hippest little spot in town, and that you can
actually gig right there. You’d be tempted to think there was actually a choice between brushing your teeth and plugging
in your guitar. It made for an interesting lifestyle, and Mike became known as the guy who lived where he worked . . .
in a manner of speaking.
Typically, Stern is humble about the way he’d become so much a part of that elite circle. It’s not about him, it’s about
his friends and the memories and experiences they provided. “Jaco used to hang out a lot,” Mike says. “He’d always nudge
me along. He and Pat seemed to have a lot more faith in my playing than I did. So, that was an interesting period. As
time passed I was able to play a lot better, and I used to jam with Jaco all the time. He’d come up to New York, and we’d
just play and play. So, it turned out that I frequently got to jam with people who were way better than I was, which
helped me get my shit together.”
The guitar is always a big part of Stern’s life, but his discipline with the instrument has resulted from the combined
influence of a busy circuit, a cadre of talented musicians, and the drive to acquire knowledge. “No matter what I’m
doing,” says Mike, “I try to get a little place lined up where I can play. For example, I was playing with Bill Evans,
the saxophonist, at a place called “Michael’s,” which is closed now. And Bill told me he’d be hitting the road with
Miles. But I was also playing with Billy Cobham at the Bottom Line, there in Manhattan, so Evans brought Miles down.
Eventually I got the call to do that gig. In fact, the title for “Fat Time” [from Davis’ classic The Man with the
Horn] was taken from the nickname they gave me.”
Stern made his stage debut with Miles at the Kix club in Boston in June of ’81. That performance would see release as
We Want Miles, the second of his three records with the band. This leg of the gig lasted for two years, producing a
series of recordings that would get the jazz and rock communities buzzing with news of a guy with fret-melting prowess
on the guitar. Three of the era’s most powerful sets—The Man with the Horn, We Want Miles, Miles! Miles! Miles! (Live
in Japan) and Star People—showcased the journeyman guitarist. His sound blended the primal energy and sensual textures
of his long-time hero Jimi Hendrix with the harmonic breadth of Wes Montgomery. “Fat Time” remains an awe-inspiring
example of the monumental structures that Stern can create with a solid-body axe and a touch of chorus.
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