Mike Rud started playing the guitar at age 11. After studying with Brian Hughes, he completed a performance diploma at Edmonton's Grant MacEwan College in 1988, and proceeded on to a Bachelor of Music degree at Montreal's McGill University, graduating in 1992. In 1994, Michael attended the Banff International Jazz Workshop at the Banff Centre for the Arts, studying with greats of modern jazz such as Don Thompson and Norma Winstone. This led to an opportunity to study in New York with the jazz guitar master Jim Hall in 1995. In 1996, he returned to Montreal for his Masters' degree at McGill.

Michael has performed with Herb Ellis, Kenny Wheeler, Chuck Israels, Ralph Bowen, Joe La Barbera, Guido Basso, Ian MacDougal, P.J. Perry, Tommy Banks, Denzal Sinclaire, John Stetch and many others. He has two CDs of his own out, Whyte Avenue and Chimbe, and is a guest on several other CDs.

In demand as a teacher and clinician, Michael has taught and/or spoken at a number of music schools, including McGill University, Western Washington University, Vancouver Community College, Grant MacEwan College, Keyano College, Red Deer College, and Carleton University. He has been a featured guest artist with the University of Victoria Jazz Band, and a teacher at the UBC summer music camp, the Prairielands jazz camp in Regina, SK, and the Grant MacEwan College summer guitar workshop in Edmonton, AB. He has performed all over Canada, including appearances at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, and the Festival de Jazz de Montréal.

In December 2004, Mike, his wife Suanne, and their daughters Kelly and Abby, moved from Vancouver to Ottawa. Mike is enjoying working with the musicians which make up its vibrant scene. Ottawa is also handy to Montreal, where Mike is returning to perform regularly.

From the press across Canada:

"…sunny tones, obvious maturity and expressive single note lines…" -Geoff Chapman, - The Toronto Star

"Rud …is nothing less than a revelation. The Edmonton native, who lived in Montreal and studied with the great Jim Hall in New York, delivers fleet guitar lines that demonstrate his world-class talents." -Chris Wong, - The Vancouver Courier

"he's a hell of a writer…and forget about the excellence of his musical ideas and his lyricism - just his touch on his instrument is exquisite." - Katie Malloch, CBC Radio Jazzbeat

“…Rud has proven himself to be a serious talent as an improviser, composer and bandleader” - Roger Levesque, The Edmonton Journal

“Breathtakingly brilliant improvisation” - Joseph Blake, The Victoria Times-Colonist

"…one of the guitarists to discover in Montreal." - Montreal's Hour Magazine

"Mike Rud is one of the most promising young guitar talents I've heard." - Jazz Guitarist Jim Hall

After Michael's Canada Day performance at last summer's Vancouver Jazz Festival, The Vancouver Sun printed the following letter to the editor: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 As usual, Friday's review of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival covered only visiting jazz performers like Al Green and The Bad Plus, and ignored Vancouver's great jazz musicians. Not one word about Mike Rud, Tilden Webb, Dave Robbins, Bill Coon, Ross Taggert, Brian Tate, Adam Thomas or Jodi Proznick, to name but a few. …I am fortunate enough to have seen and heard many of the greats in the world of jazz, people like Count Basie, Stan Getz, Art Pepper, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, and I say honestly that Mike Rud's set at Railspur Alley was world-class. It was one of the most swinging sets I've heard for years. So why is it, at festival time and the whole year around, that the press refuses to take our own jazz musicians seriously? Will Goede, Vancouver

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