Mike Johnston
Host, Destination OutMike Johnston is the host of 'Destination Out,' which airs each Sunday evening at 11pm. Mike also teaches music history courses at Delta College and Mid Michigan Community College.
Mike is a community volunteer who first started at WCMU in August, 1987. He is also the bassist with Faruq Z. Bey and the Northwoods Improvisers, a role he has held since 1976. He was raised in Traverse City and holds an MFA degree in Art / Photography. Mike also wrote for the Jazz Magazine from 1981 to 1999.
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This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of pianist Stan Tracey, from Under Milk Wood. This legendary British quartet album from 1965 is often described as the U.K.'s version of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of many jazz artists, including Elmo Hope, Max Roach, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, and more. -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of Archie Shepp, highlighting the album Derailleur, previously unreleased from 1964 and featuring Steve Lacy on soprano sax and Roswell Rudd on trombone alongside Shepp. Mike also spins other tracks by Shepp from the early 1960s with Cecil Taylor on piano, and Bill Dixon and Don Cherry on trumpets. -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of trumpeter Charles Sullivan, highlighting recordings under his own name from the 1970s-1990s, as well as recordings with Sonny Fortune on sax, Yusef Lateef on sax and flute, and McCoy Tyner on piano. -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of the Sun Ra Arkestra recorded at the Willisau festival in 1984 -- a never-before-released concert on a double LP. This release is launching a new record label, De Occulta Records, which is planning on releasing different Willisau festival performances through the years. Mike also features interviews with the label's owner. -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of Roswell Rudd on the trombone, highlighting recordings from throughout his career (including his work with the New York Art Quartet). -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of Sun Ra. This edition of the program highlights his reissued album Jazz In Silhouette, a remastered and reissued version of the 1959 classic with bonus tracks and a few newly-found original stereo mixes of songs. -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of Horace Tapscott and the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, highlighting two previously unreleased live performances from 1979. -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson, including the Milwaukee Tapes Volume 2 -- previously unreleased recordings from a 1980 live gig. -
This week on Destination Out, host Mike Johnston features the work of tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, highlighting a reissue of his 1970s album Harvest Time along with bonus tracks and live material. Also on the show, a celebration of the late great John Coltrane's birthday.
