The La Jolla native is now at work on his memoir and his 24th album. His band features former Pat Metheny Group mainstays Mark Egan and Danny Gottlieb.
Michael Franks has been cited as an idol by fellow troubadour Jason Mraz, whose wispy singing and sly wordplay owe a major debt to La Jolla native Franks.Franks’ songs have been recorded by everyone from Diana Krall and Peggy Lee to Ringo Starr and Lyle Lovett. They have been sampled by such hip-hop artists as Logic, Ginuwine, Raekwon and a good number more.
“My dad was in the Air Force and he later got a job flying a plane with pontoons for the San Diego tuna fleet. He would locate the schools of tuna from the air and direct the boats to them,” the mustachioed troubadour recalled. Franks’ sly, svelte songs drew from jazz, bossa nova, funk, urbane pop, soul and more. His albums featured some of the same top jazz musicians who were recording with Steely Dan during the same time period.
And never mind that his elegant 1995 tribute album to bossa nova king Jobim, “Abandoned Garden,” was shunned by Broadcast Architecture, the top consulting firm then used by smooth-jazz radio stations across the nation.
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