Originally from Sanford, Maine, saxophonist/clarinetist Michael McGinnis has rapidly
ascended the New York music scene to become one of the most sought-after players today.
  His voice is a fine balancing act of unexpected elements, ranging from jazz to contemporary

 classical and everything in between, and unexpected qualities: versatile yet unmistakably original,
 thoughtful but edgy, powerful yet subtle.  It is no wonder that he is the first-call
 sideman for many innovative musicians.

McGinnis began playing saxophone at age ten and studied saxophone at the University of Southern
 Maine with Bill Street and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY before moving to New York

 City in 1997.

He recorded his debut CD “Tangents” with his group Between Green (which included Shane Endsley and
 Jacob Sacks) for Ravi Coltrane’s RKM Music label in 2000.In 2007 he performed in Paris as part of
 Steve Coleman's Aquarius Ingress which boasted a stellar line-up of current improvisers (Ravi Coltrane,
 Tony Malaby, Miguel Zenon and Chris Speed) and has also performed and/or recorded with the Lonnie
 Plaxico Group, Stew (of Passing Strange), the Ohad Talmor/Steve Swallow Sextet, Ravi Coltrane,
Alice Coltrane, Yo La Tengo and Art Lande, among others.

Michael has performed extensively in the US and internationally including Japan, Turkey, Africa,
 France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and his performances and compositions have been featured on
WNYC, VH1, ABC, MTV, The Daily Show and HBO.   You can see him playing the flute in Ang Lee’s most
 recent film “Taking Woodstock”.

Michael is a Selmer Paris performing artist and plays Selmer saxophones and clarinets
and Bill Street mouthpieces exclusively.