Mike "Maz" Maher

Mike “Maz” Maher (trumpeter and vocalist) was born on November 3, 1982, and grew up in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, just west of Milwaukee. He began playing trumpet at age eight and became serious about pursuing music professionally by age 15. He attended Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, where his band director, Randy Skowronski, played an important role in his musical development. During lunch, Mike could be found in the band room, practicing and listening to jazz records. He also attended the summer jazz camp taught by We Six (now called the MJI Annual Summer Jazz Camp).

After graduating in 2000, Mike enrolled in the Jazz Studies program at the University of North Texas, where he performed with their top ensemble, the One O’Clock Lab Band. In 2004, bassist and fellow student Michael League formed a 10-piece group that included Mike and several of their classmates. That group became Snarky Puppy, a genre-blending ensemble combining jazz, rock, world music, and funk. After college, Mike moved to New York, thinking his Snarky Puppy days were behind him, but in 2007, League asked him to join the group on the road. By 2012, things started to change for the band—they began posting videos of their recording sessions on YouTube and attracted a huge fanbase. “We went over to Europe and were selling out rooms pretty much everywhere,” Mike said. “We really hit it hard and started to tour 250 days out of the year.”

Mike continues to perform and record with the multi-Grammy Award-winning group Snarky Puppy, which has earned critical acclaim and a devoted international following. He is also the lead singer and composer for his own project, Maz.

Check out Mike performing “Lingus” with Snarky Puppy, recorded in 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XJ_s5IsQc

More information can be found at: https://www.mikemazmaher.com/