Roxy Bar Presents: Pianist Michael Garin

Michael Garin plays a solo piano set at Roxy Bar, continuing his regular Tuesday through Saturday residency at the Roxy Hotel. This is not a conventional piano-bar program: Garin builds a flowing, request-friendly sequence that the venue says blurs “the distinction between pianist and D.J.” His musical range can move among Shaggy, Om Kalthum, Rossini, Jobim, Frank Zappa and Raymond Scott, with comic asides and occasional audience participation part of the established Roxy format.

A Washington, D.C.-area native, Garin first played guitar in bluegrass bands before concentrating on piano. He has become a long-running figure in New York nightlife, known for musical mashups and for co-creating and co-starring in the off-Broadway environmental musical Song of Singapore, work that earned him a Drama Desk Award. His credits include appearances with Frank Zappa, James Chance, David Lee Roth and Kool & the Gang, plus acting work with Spike Lee. One New York Sun reviewer called him “perhaps the most compelling musical omnivore I’ve ever encountered,” citing a repertoire that brings jazz, pop, classical and chamber music into contact with contemporary pop, rap, Sondheim and Noël Coward.