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
 

I am an award-winning music journalist, editor and bass guitarist based in the Cotswolds cultural hub of Stroud. I have edited the internationally acclaimed Jazzwise Magazine, the UK's biggest selling jazz monthly, since 2015 but have also worked as jazz editor at Time Out magazine in London for five years, a feature writer for the UK’s Bass Guitar Magazine and London Evening Standard as well as working on many private commissions as a freelance copywriter. I was awarded Jazz Journalist of The Year at the 2010 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. In May 2023 I was made an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for working with the RAM Jazz Big Band, bringing them to Ronnie Scott's in a special collaboration with Grammy Award winning pianist Bill Laurance.
 

Writing about music across many genres I've interviewed the likes of Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding, Gregory Porter, Courtney Pine, Tony Bennett, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Victor Wooten as well as world/pop/electronica artists like Flying Lotus, Nitin Sawhney, Goldfrapp and Squarepusher. I've also worked as a writer/producer in specialist music for leading UK production company TBI Media and worked alongside multi-award-winning producer Phil Critchlow with whom I wrote and co-produced a radio documentary for BBC Radio 2 ‘The Story of Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club’ as it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009. I also scripted a four part Radio 2 series ‘Tony Bennett presents the Great American Songbook’, hosted by Sir Michael Parkinson. The Ronnie Scott's documentary won a Gold Award at the prestigious New York Radio Awards 2010. I've also appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 3 live from the London Jazz Festival and as contributor to the Saturday Review show on Monocle 24 Radio, and as guest on Mary Anne Hobbs 6Music Breakfast Show (listen to the clip below) and Chris Philips' Jazz FM show The Blueprint. I have also been interviewed live on Sky News about the rising numbers of young people listening to jazz now. I was also a judge for eight years on the Mercury Music Prize and championed many jazz artists among the nominees between 2008 and 2015.
 

Alongside journalism I've played bass guitar professionally for over 25 years - performing with a wide range of jazz, pop and world music artists in many of London's top venues, including the Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Pizza Express Jazz Club, 606, Vortex, Queen Elizabeth Hall, LSO St Lukes, Cargo and Hideaway. I've also led my band at gigs at such prestigious festivals as Love Supreme Jazz Festival, Canary Wharf Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, the London Latin Jazz Festival, Rye Jazz & Blues Festival, South Coast Jazz Festival and played at Birmingham's CBSO Hall, as well as international tours in Morocco and Thailand.

I’m passionate about music production as a long-time Ableton Live user, my most recent releases are The Unfurl EP - a jazztronica set featuring top UK jazz musicians Ant Law, Rebecca Nash, Alina Bzhezhinska, Nick Walters and Jay Phelps - and a solo fretless bass EP, A Little Stillness -  Visit my Music Projects Page for more...