About Mike Flynn – Editor/Writer/Bassist
"Deep eclectic grooves! Flynn's bass tone is killer!."
Bill Laurance, Snarky Puppy
"Mike Flynn is an excellent bass-guitarist"
Brian Priestley, author and broadcaster
“His feel for the music scene is probably helped by his own prowess as a formidable electric bassist, active in various groups.”
(PPL / Parliamentary Jazz Awards)
"Brilliant bassist... in the mould of Jaco Pastorius"
Chris Phillips - Jazz FM
Mike Flynn is an award-winning music journalist, editor, and bass guitarist based in the Cotswolds cultural hub of Stroud. He has been editor of the internationally acclaimed Jazzwise Magazine – the UK’s best-selling jazz monthly – since 2015. Prior to this, he served as jazz editor at Time Out magazine in London for five years and contributed as a feature writer to Bass Guitar Magazine, the London Evening Standard, and various private commissions as a freelance copywriter.
In 2010, Mike was named Jazz Journalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. In May 2023, he was made an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for his work with curating a special collaboration between the RAM Jazz Big Band and Grammy Award-winning pianist Bill Laurance at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club for Jazzwise’s 25th anniversary festival at the club.
A versatile writer across genres, Mike has interviewed world renowned musicians such as Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding, Gregory Porter, Courtney Pine, Tony Bennett, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Anthony Jackson and Victor Wooten, as well as electronic and pop innovators such as Flying Lotus, Nitin Sawhney, Goldfrapp, and Squarepusher.
He has also worked as a writer/producer in specialist music for the UK’s TBI Media, collaborating with award-winning producer Phil Critchlow on the acclaimed BBC Radio 2 documentary The Story of Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, which won Gold at the 2010 New York Radio Awards. He also scripted the four-part BBC Radio 2 series Tony Bennett Presents the Great American Songbook, hosted by Sir Michael Parkinson. Recently, Mike has been working with new high-end audiophile label, Analogue October Records, writing liner notes for their releases which so far have included Courtney Pine’s debut album and Neil Ardley’s Harmony of the Spheres and his masterpiece Kaleidoscope of Rainbows - all newly released on deluxe 180-gram vinyl.
Mike has been a regular guest on BBC Radio 3, Monocle 24, BBC 6Music with Mary Anne Hobbs, and Jazz FM’s The Blueprint with Chris Philips, Mike has also appeared live on Sky News, discussing the resurgence of jazz among younger audiences. He also served as a judge for the Mercury Music Prize from 2008 to 2015, championing jazz talent throughout his tenure. Mike presents a montly show on www.onejazz.net - with the Jazzwise Editor's Choices show featuring highlights of each month's best jazz albums.
As a professional bass guitarist with decades of experience, Mike has performed across many of London’s leading venues – including Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Jazz Club, 606 Club, Vortex, Queen Elizabeth Hall, LSO St Luke’s and Cargo. His festival appearances include Love Supreme, Canary Wharf, London Jazz Festival, London Latin Jazz Festival, Rye Jazz & Blues Festival, South Coast Jazz Festival, and Birmingham’s CBSO Hall, along with international tours in Morocco and Thailand.
A passionate music producer and longtime Ableton Live user, his most recent releases include The Unfurl EP – a jazztronica project featuring Ant Law, Rebecca Nash, Alina Bzhezhinska, Nick Walters, and Jay Phelps – and a solo fretless bass EP titled A Little Stillness. Mike is also leading a series of improvised monthly sessions with the Unfurl Collective, in collaboration with a group of talented musicians from Stroud and Bristol and hosted by Jazz Stroud – presenting the most recent editions ‘in the round’ at the wonderful Grade II listed Brunel Goods Shed