Mikael Jorgensen (born June 4, 1972) is an American musician known as the
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
and
keyboardist
A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...
for the band
Wilco
Wilco is an American Rock music, rock band based in Chicago. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its fir ...
as well as a member of the bands Pronto and Quindar.
Career
Prior to his days in Chicago and with Wilco, Mikael honed his musical skills in
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
Jorgensen, an ex-Chicago-based engineer and now full-time musician initially came aboard Wilco in 2002 to perform real-time sound manipulations on the ''
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Wilco, originally self-released on September 18, 2001, on their website, and in retail stores on April 23, 2002, through Nonesuch Records. Recording sessions for the a ...
'' tour, sitting just off stage left. As the tour rolled on, Jorgensen gradually moved onto the stage itself, manning his laptop as well as taking on more and more keyboard duties.
"It became apparent that Mike was a very proficient piano player that could do a lot more than we were using him for," says Wilco singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy. "At that point, he started becoming a full-fledged member of the band, contributing parts to the new songs and even handling more of the nuts-and-bolts architecture of the older songs."
He first appeared on Wilco's 2004 release, '' A Ghost Is Born''. On that album, he received songwriting credit for "Hell is Chrome" and "Theologians".
Personal life
Jorgensen's father was born in
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
but moved to the United States in the 1950s, and his mother was born in Hedmark,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
North Brunswick, New Jersey
North Brunswick is a Township (New Jersey), township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is centrally located in the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region within the New York metropolitan area. A ...