Mike Stern (born Michael Sedgwick, January 10, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist. He played with the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, then worked with drummer Billy Cobham. Later, he joined trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. After these collaborations, Stern started a solo career and released more than 20 albums.

In 1993, Guitar Player magazine named Stern the Best Jazz Guitarist. In June 2007, he received the Miles Davis Award at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. This award honors jazz artists who have made major contributions to the development of the genre. In 2009, Stern was included in Down Beat’s list of the 75 greatest jazz guitarists of all time. On January 21, 2012, he was awarded the Certified Legend Award by Guitar Player magazine.

Personal life

Michael Stern was born in Boston, Massachusetts, as Michael Sedgwick. His mother was Helen Stern (originally named Helen Phillips Burroughs), who was a sculptor and supported artists. His father was Henry Dwight Sedgwick V. His stepfather, who adopted him, was Philip M. Stern, the son of businessman Edgar B. Stern Senior. Stern has a half-sister named Kyra Sedgwick, who is an actress. He is married to Leni Stern, who is a guitarist and vocalist.

Career

Mike Stern was born in Washington, D.C., and started playing guitar when he was 12 years old. He copied the styles of famous guitarists like B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix. However, he did not take guitar seriously until he entered Berklee College of Music in Boston. At age 22, he joined the band Blood, Sweat & Tears and stayed with the group for three years. During this time, he appeared on the albums More Than Ever and Brand New Day.

At the same time, Stern was the lead guitarist for a Washington, D.C., glam-rock band called the Dubonettes, which later changed its name to Charlie and the Pep Boys. The group released one album, Daddy's Girl, in 1976 before Stern left.

In 1979, Stern joined Billy Cobham’s fusion band. Two years later, he became a member of Miles Davis’s band and made his public debut in 1981. This performance was recorded on the album We Want Miles. He stayed with Davis until 1983, when he was replaced by guitarist John Scofield. At that time, Stern was a heavy drinker and used heroin. In a 2009 interview, he said, “If Miles wants to put you in a rehab, you know you’ve got something wrong.” From 1983 to 1984, he toured with Jaco Pastorius, a period marked by heavy drug use. In 1985, he returned to tour with Davis. Stern and his wife entered a rehabilitation program, and they received help from Michael Brecker and others.

Stern’s first solo album, Upside Downside, was released in 1986 on Atlantic Records. It featured Jaco Pastorius, David Sanborn, and Bob Berg. From 1986 to 1988, he was a member of Michael Brecker’s quintet and appeared on the album Don’t Try This at Home. His second Atlantic album, Time in Place (1988), included musicians such as Peter Erskine on drums, Jim Beard on keyboards, and Don Grolnick on organ. His next album, Jigsaw, was produced by guitarist Steve Khan and included the song “Chief,” a tribute to Miles Davis.

In 1989, Stern formed a touring group with Bob Berg, Dennis Chambers, and Lincoln Goines. The group stayed together until 1992 and released the album Odds or Evens. In 1992, he joined the reunited Brecker Brothers Band for two years. His 1993 album, Standards (and Other Songs), earned him the title of Best Jazz Guitarist of the Year by Guitar Player readers and critics. He followed this with Is What It Is (1994) and Between the Lines (1996), both of which received Grammy Award nominations. In 1997, he released Give and Take, featuring bassist John Patitucci, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and guest musicians Michael Brecker and David Sanborn. He won the Orville W. Gibson Award for Best Jazz Guitarist.

After 15 years with Atlantic Records, Stern signed with ESC Records in 2004 for the release of These Times, an eclectic album with guest appearances by Richard Bona, Kenny Garrett, and Béla Fleck. In 2006, he joined the Heads Up label with the album Who Let the Cats Out?. In 2008, he collaborated with the Yellowjackets for their Lifecycle album, contributing two songs and performing on most tracks. He toured with the Yellowjackets in 2008 and 2009. In February 2009, Stern was named one of Down Beat magazine’s 75 Great Guitarists of all time.

In August 2009, Stern released Big Neighborhood, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. In 2012, he was honored with Guitar Player magazine’s Certified Legend Award at the Muriel Anderson All-Star Guitar night, where he performed with Lee Ritenour.

In 2014, Stern toured with guitarist Eric Johnson in the Eclectic Guitar Tour and released an album of the same name. In the summer of 2016, he informed doctors about serious injuries to his shoulders and right arm after falling. This ended his European tour, and he had to change his playing style to continue performing. In 2017, he returned to Europe with a new group called Mike Stern/Randy Brecker Band, featuring Randy Brecker (trumpet), Teymur Phell (bass guitar), and Lenny White (drums). In 2019, he collaborated with Jeff Lorber Fusion to release the album Eleven.

Equipment

An early and important guitar for Mike Stern was a mixed 1950s/1960s Fender Telecaster. This guitar was previously owned by Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton. It was stolen from Stern during a robbery in Boston. This guitar inspired a custom-made instrument created by a guitar maker named Michael Aronson in Boston.

The Aronson guitar later influenced the Yamaha PA1511MS, which is a guitar model designed by Mike Stern. This guitar has a Seymour Duncan '59 pickup in the neck position and a Tele Hot Rail pickup in the bridge.

Stern plays using Fender Twin amplifiers or a Yamaha G100-212 amplifier. His famous chorused sound is partly created by a Yamaha SPX-90 effects unit, which is split to produce stereo sound. His pedal board includes mostly Boss brand pedals. He uses two Boss DD-3 digital delay pedals, with one set to a long delay time for "big, spacey sounds." His distortion pedal is a Boss Distortion DS-1.

Awards and honors

• Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album: Is What It Is (1995), Between the Lines (1997), Voices (2002), Who Let the Cats Out? (2007), Lifecycle (2009), Big Neighborhood (2010)
• Received Jazz Guitarist of the Year award from Guitar Player (1993)
• Won Best Jazz Guitarist award, Orville W. Gibson Award (1997)
• Named one of "75 Great Guitarists" by DownBeat (2009)
• Received Certified Award from Guitar Player (2012)

Discography

• High Standards (with Steve Slagle, Teddy Saunders, Harvie Swartz, Victor Lewis) (Polydor, 1982)
• Neesh (Trio, 1983) – also known as Fat Time
• Upside Downside (Atlantic, 1986)
• Time in Place (Atlantic, 1988)
• Jigsaw (Atlantic, 1989)
• Odds or Evens (Atlantic, 1991)
• Standards (and Other Songs) (Atlantic, 1992)
• Dedication (with Bunny Brunel, Billy Childs, Vinnie Colaiuta) (Musidisc, 1992)
• Is What It Is (Atlantic, 1994)
• Vertical Reality (with Jerry Bergonzi, Andy LaVerne, George Mraz, Billy Hart) (Musidisc, 1994)
• Between the Lines (Atlantic, 1996)
• Give and Take (Atlantic, 1997)
• 55 Bar Sessions (with Hiram Bullock, Haru Takauchi, Leni Stern) (Paddle Wheel, 1998)
• Play (Atlantic, 1999)
• Voices (Atlantic, 2001)
• These Times (ESC, 2004)
• Who Let the Cats Out? (Heads Up, 2006)
• Big Neighborhood (Heads Up, 2009)
• All Over the Place (Heads Up, 2012) – recorded in 2011
• Eclectic (with Eric Johnson) (Heads Up, 2014)
• Trip (Heads Up, 2017)
• Eleven (with Jeff Lorber Fusion) (Concord Jazz, 2019)
• Echoes (and Other Songs) (Mack Avenue, 2024)

• More Than Ever (Columbia, 1976)
• Brand New Day (ABC, 1977)

• Live in Tokyo 1986 (NYC, 1994)

Bob Berg/Mike Stern Group

• Games (with Bob Berg, featuring Lincoln Goines, Dennis Chambers) (Jazz Door, 2008, recorded live in USA 1990)

• The Man with the Horn (Columbia, 1981)
• We Want Miles (Columbia, 1982)
• Star People (Columbia, 1983)

• Randy Roos, Mistral (Spoonfed, 1978)
• Billy Cobham, Stratus (Inak, 1981)
• Michael Mantler, Something There (Watt, 1983)
• Steve Slagle, High Standards (Polydor, 1984)
• Harvie Swartz, Urban Earth (Gramavision, 1985)
• Harvie Swartz, Smart Moves (Gramavision, 1986)
• Lew Soloff, Yesterdays (Paddle Wheel, 1986)
• Kimiko Kasai, My One and Only Love (CBS/Sony, 1986)
• Bob Berg, Short Stories (Denon, 1987)
• Shunzo O'no, Manhattan Blue (Projazz, 1987)
• Harvie Swartz, In A Different Light (Bluemoon, 1990)
• Jukkis Uotila, Live (Stunt, 1991)
• Chroma, Music On The Edge (CTI, 1991)
• Dieter Ilg, Summerhill (Lipstick, 1991)
• Brecker Brothers, Return of the Brecker Brothers (GRP, 1992)
• Tiger Okoshi, Echoes Of A Note (JVC, 1993)
• Motohiko Hino, It's There (FunHouse, 1993)
• Jerry Bergonzi, Vertical Reality (Musidisc, 1994)
• Steps Ahead, Live In Tokyo 1986 (NYC Records, 1994)
• Jim Hall, Dialogues (Telarc, 1995)
• Les Arbuckle, The Bush Crew (AudioQuest, 1995)
• Arturo Sandoval, Swingin' (GRP, 1986)
• Hue & Cry, Jazz Not Jazz (Linn, 1996)
• Jaco Pastorius, Live in New York City Volume Five – Raca (Big World Music, 1997)
• Pat Martino, All Sides Now (Blue Note, 1997)
• Jukkis Uotila, Avenida (Stunt, 1998)
• Ron Thaler, Grain (Hot Wire Records, 1998)
• Michael Brecker, Don't Try This At Home (Impulse!, 1998)
• Charles Blenzig, Charles Blenzig (Chase, 1989)
• Alex Riel, Rielatin' (Stunt, 2000)
• George Coleman – 4 Generations of Miles (Chesky, 2002)
• Michael Brecker, Jazz Academy: Pure Essentials for Jazzaholics (C&B Productions, 2006)
• DR Big Band, Chromazone (EMI, 2008)
• Yellowjackets, Lifecycle (Heads Up, 2008)
• Cindy Blackman, Another Lifetime (4Q, 2010)
• Jan Gunnar Hoff, Jan Gunnar Hoff Group feat Mike Stern (Losen, 2018)
• Steve Bailey, Carolina (Treehouse, 2020)
• Harvie S Trio, Going For It (Savant, 2021)
• Michael Brecker Band, Live At Fabrik 1987 (Fabrik, 2022)
• Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Bass Extremes, S'low Down (Vix, 2022)
• Derek Sherinian, Vortex (Inside Out Music, 2022)
• Dan Costa, Beams (Dan Costa, 2023)
• Roman Miroshnichenko, Roman Miroshnichenko plays Stas Namin (SNC, 2023)
• Varre Vartiainen, Head & Heart (Eclipse Music, 2025)