Photo by Jimmy Jeffreys.
Mr. Utley. The other half of the Club Trini Band. What can you say that hasn’t already been said about Mike? Super nice guy, awesome musician, band leader, back in 1988 he was in “Black & White Night” with Roy Orbison and everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Jackson Browne. Since the 1970’s he has been the quiet band leader of the Coral Reefer Band.
i remember a conversation I had with him a few years back in Key West. I had the opportunity to talk to him for quite some time by a palm tree on the beach. I asked him about playing on the Duane Allman Anthology album all those years ago. He was a session player on several tracks of this double lp. Mike told me the story of how he traveled to Miami and went in to record his tracks. As he was working one day in the studio a door flew open and a fully-dressed in tuxedo Jackie Gleason strutted into the room with martini in hand and someone yelled out “Here’s Jackie!” He spun around and said “This is not my studio!” He turned and quickly left.
Ah the war stories of a traveling musician.