About Michael

...and so it continues.

Aside from being one of the mid west’s most popular bandleaders, booking over 12,000 events in almost 3 decades, Michael has always had a love of the clarinet. His father’s love of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw was passed down to him.

The many years of building Michael Lerich and His Orchestra and Michael Lerich Productions, Inc. took time away from being able to dedicate time for the continued practice required to artistically play the clarinet. However, over the past few years Michael has dedicated his time and energy into the instrument and has subsequently formed the ensemble that so many of Chicago’s wonderful jazz artists want to be a part of…Kevin Fort, Ryan Cohen, Ben Clark, Vijay Tellis Nayak and Jim Sellers on Piano…Matt Ferguson, Christian Dillingham, Matt Gold, Joe Policastro and Paul Merar on Bass…Andre Beasley, Bob Rummage, Darren Scorza, Ken Takaoka, Rick Vitek, Greg Fundis and Zack Marks on Drums. At any given time any one of these truly marvelous artists will perform with Michael for another wonderfully creative jazz experience.