Michael J Thomas

“You clearly know what you’re doing, and it’s great…congrats on an impressive career.” - Dave Grusin, Legendary GRAMMY® winning Music Producer / Arranger / Musician, ACADEMY AWARD® winner, and the G in GRP Records)

Though surrounded by country music while growing up in the small town of Cecilia, Kentucky, Michael J. Thomas’ parents thankfully filled his childhood with a steady stream of legendary R&B/pop artists who would later become muses – Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson, and Prince. Thomas studied piano at the age of seven and switched to saxophone in seventh grade—shortly after discovering contemporary jazz artists like Yellowjackets and Dave Grusin on a Technics demo disc that came with a stereo his dad purchased. It was in his high school jazz band rehearsal one late evening when all of his ear training and emulation of other saxophonists finally came together. The band was performing a run-through of Jimi Hendrix’ “Purple Haze” which had a transcribed alto sax solo that Thomas deviated from.

Thomas’ wide array of musical talents and ability to adapt his performance style to a variety of settings serves him well in his dual lives as a working musician. When he’s at home in Northwest Florida, he holds court four nights a week as the in-house entertainment at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, where he mostly focuses on his singing – everything from Frank Sinatra to Bruno Mars – with the occasional Grover Washington, Jr. or David Sanborn tune in the mix. When the charismatic, always sharply dressed Michael takes a festival stage as the smooth jazz star, he unleashes the full power of his sax and gets the crowds grooving and swaying to his hits and other mostly original material.

Over the years, he has played the Seabreeze Jazz Festival, Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival, Los Cabos Jazz Festival, the Saenger Theatre in Pensacola (opening for Acoustic Alchemy), Golden Nugget Casino in Reno, NV, The Velvet Note in Atlanta and The Louisville Place. As he’s developed his artistry and stage presence, he has also learned the value of making his set an emotional journey, starting off with big energy, slowing things down for a passionate ballad or two, then swinging back up for a rousing finish. He considers himself a natural “ham,” and knowing he’s there to entertain and engage people and help them escape their troubles, always makes his shows a party. Besides the synergy with the audience, his favorite part of being onstage is vibing with the equally dynamic musicians in his band. He doesn’t choreograph his shows ahead of time and lets the music naturally drive and dictate his moves.

In addition to his #1 Billboard airplay hits “Baby Coffee” and “I’ll Never Love Again,” an instrumental re-imagining of Lady Gaga’s hit from “A Star is Born,” he has accumulated 4.7M+ total streams on Apple Music and 2.6M+ on Spotify – numbers otherwise unheard of in smooth jazz. “Sippin’ the Yak,” the follow-up single to his Gaga cover from his appropriately titled 2020 EP Stream’n Love, has been one of his major sensations, with 1.8M+ streams on Spotify in addition to reaching #2 on three major charts - the Billboard Smooth Jazz Airplay/Smooth Jazz Songs chart (where it stayed in the Top 5 for eight weeks), the Smooth Jazz Network Top 20 and the Mediabase Smooth Jazz chart. In addition, the title track of the saxman’s 2019 album “City Beat” racked up over 600K Spotify streams. Thomas has over 41,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and 1.4K daily listeners on Apple Music.

For Thomas, one of the perks of having all that impact “outside the door” as well as the admiration of so many fellow genre musicians is being able to invite top-name special guests to add their magic to his projects. Featuring four previously released singles, the new EP includes tracks with R&B/jazz singer Maysa (“It’s Christmas”), trumpet legend Randy Brecker (a cover of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” featuring Thomas on lead vocals), and guitarist, fellow #1 Billboard artist and Special EFX founder/leader Chieli Minucci (“H.A.D.”). The project’s sole radio single “The OG Bounce” – named for the song’s co-producer and Thomas’ A&R director and mentor Carl Griffin – featured the saxophonist’s regular crew of keyboardist/co-producer Trammell Starks, guitarist Chris Blackwell, bassist Sam Sims, and drummer Louis K Newsom. The track peaked at #15 on the Billboard chart and stayed on the Smooth Jazz Songs chart for over 20 weeks.

With a style that blends R&B, funk, and jazz, Michael J Thomas is a dynamic and engaging performer who continues to push the boundaries of contemporary smooth jazz.