Mike Rud is a Juno award-winning jazz guitarist and songwriter. He is also a music instructor at Selkirk College in Nelson, BC. As an instrumentalist, Mike has played alongside some of the greatest jazz musicians of the era like Peter Bernstein, Kenny Wheeler, Herb Ellis and Joey DeFrancesco. As a songwriter and arranger, Mike won the 2014 Juno Award for his album Notes on Montreal, a critically acclaimed musical portrait of the city. It was inspired by the great literature set in Montreal (Michel Tremblay, Gabrielle Roy etc.) and sung by Sienna Dahlen. Mike’s subsequent 2015 solo release, Miniatures, delighted audiences across Canada, creating the effect of a small group with only his voice and his guitar. He has a master’s degree from McGill, and studied privately in New York City with one of the fathers of modern jazz guitar, Jim Hall. in 2007 Mike spent a year studying how the brain processes music, in the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Levitin (author of New York Times bestseller This is Your Brain on Music). Mike has taught at McGill, Western Washington and Carleton universities, and speaks frequently at other music schools. He is the proud father of two daughters, Kelly and Abby.
Juno award winning jazz guitarist, songwriter, and music teacher.