Drummer and composer Mike Reed was born in Biclefeld, Germany, in 1974 but spent most of his childhood growing up in Evanston, IL, just north of Chicago. Still based in Chicago, Reed has been a big part of that city's vibrant jazz scene, playing with the Treehouse Project, the David Boykin Expanse, Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, and the Josh Berman Quartet, among other groups, as well as leading his own bands Loose Assembly and Mike Reed's People, Places & Things. He has been involved in numerous Chicago recording projects, while under his own name releasing In the Context Of in 2006, Last Year's Ghost in 2007, and Proliferation and The Speed of Change in 2008, all on the 482 Music imprint. In 2001 he founded the Emerging Improvisers Organization, a nonprofit group that sponsors a weekly series of jazz and improvised music performances in the city. ~ Steve Leggett