FEATURE: Jazziz Includes Christian Li/Mike Bono’s “Visitors” in Auditions Round-Up!

June 8, 2019
FEATURE: Jazziz Includes Christian Li/Mike Bono’s “Visitors” in Auditions Round-Up!

Joe Woodard, Jazziz Strings play a much smaller role on Visitors (Tone Rogue), the debut album from co-leaders Christian Li (piano, keyboards) and Mike Bono (guitar). But when violinist Alex Hargreaves and string player Chris Marion insert their bowed sonic input, ears perk up. Hargreaves enlivens Li’s restless, antic “Little Rascals” and Bono’s tartly moody “Tango,” while Marion’s layered string sound … Read More

REVIEW: Christian Li and Mike Bono’s “Visitors” reviewed by JazzWeekly

February 13, 2019
REVIEW: Christian Li and Mike Bono’s “Visitors” reviewed by JazzWeekly

George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly Pianist/keyboardist Christian Li and guitarist Mike Bono co-lead  rich and lyrical post bop team of Jared Henderson/b, Lee Fish-Jimmy Macbride/dr, Dayna Stephens/ts, Alex Hargreaves/vi and Chris Marion/str through nice warm originals. Gentle thoughts prevail on this album, with Stephens’ warm tenor siging on the serene “Puddles,” cantering with Li’s keys … Read More

NEW MUSIC MONDAY: Jazziz Features Christian Li & Mike Bono’s “Puddles”

January 21, 2019
NEW MUSIC MONDAY: Jazziz Features Christian Li & Mike Bono’s “Puddles”

Matt Micucci, Jazziz Christian Li and Mike Bono, “Puddles” After almost a decade of working together, pianist Christian Li and guitarist Mike Bono released their debut co-led album, Visitors, on January 16 via Tone Rogue Records. This nine-track collection of originals opens with “Puddles,” written by Bono, who tells JAZZIZ that he wrote it “when I … Read More

REVIEW: Textura Reviews Christian Li & Mike Bono’s “Visitors”

January 5, 2019
REVIEW: Textura Reviews Christian Li & Mike Bono’s “Visitors”

Ron Schepper, Textura  Pianist Christian Li and guitarist Mike Bono have worked together in various capacities for almost a decade, making the release of an album co-led by the NYC-based duo a natural next step. A set of originals split between them, Visitors is thus both a celebration of the past and a harbinger of a presumably … Read More