Cover photo © 2025 Laura Carbone

It’s possible you didn’t know his name before, since he supports others being in the spotlight.  But you probably have appreciated Mike Merritt’s outstanding talent.  At times it appears that he is omnipresent, with so many artists hoping to benefit from his expertise in the bass guitar.  He has toured with Johnny Copeland and Levon Helm, was seen for years as part of the band on all of Conan O’Brien’s late-night TV shows, consistently plays the Big Blues Bender as part of the Bender Brass Band and is frequently featured in bands scheduled to play on blues-themed cruises.

Merritt’s father, Jymie, was considered a key figure in the jazz world during the late 1950s and 1960s.  However, he actually straddled both the jazz and blues worlds, playing with Art Blakey and touring with BB King.  When his parents separated, Merritt’s father moved to New York and Merritt later started spending summers with him, learning more about his work.

“I was initially turned off from music as a young child because my school insisted that I should learn flute and the instructor was not a nice guy.  I was a little kid and would always run out of breath at the lesson. I would feel light-headed and feel like I was going to pass out, but he was a taskmaster and would say ‘get back to it’.  I thought that if this is what it is like to play music, I didn’t want to do it.  But then, a few years later, my dad got me started playing bass.  I got interested in what he was doing when I saw that he played electric bass as well as the upright, and I met his musical peers, (jazz players like Freddie Hubbard and Philly Joe Jones).  That is what got me into playing music, and I took private lessons from some of his colleagues in Philly. They were in a group my dad put together called The Forerunners.  I also took some upright bass lessons from a classical teacher, but mostly it was learning from my dad’s colleagues.”

Merritt moved to New York in the 1980s, where he met and ended up touring with Johnny Copeland.

“Johnny gave me my start in the blues world.  I toured the world with him, and he was a huge influence on me.  I learned a lot about life and the blues from him.  His whole personality as a blues man had a strong effect on me, along with the other people who were in the band.  He was a very original blues man, and he had a unique take on the world and a unique presence on stage.  I’m so glad that the opportunity was there.  He was one of the best that I have ever had the chance to play with and learn from.”

When asked if he could identify the most important lesson he learned from Copeland, Merritt did not hesitate to respond.

“Dealing with adversity.  You have to figure out a way to keep going.  For example, we were playing in a small New England town, and we were an integrated band playing to a white audience.  There were guys at the bar making borderline racist comments and for a minute we thought we might have to fight our way out of there.  Then a guy made a racist comment about watermelon, and Johnny said, ‘hey—when you find some, let me know where it is.’  He defused the situation, and a lot of the folks there dug it even more.  He just had that way about him.  He came out of Houston, Texas and was a boxer as a young man.  He had been through so much and had this wisdom that was beyond his years.  He also showed me that it doesn’t matter if you are playing for a thousand people or ten people, always give 110 percent.  Johnny would always give it everything he’s got.”

After playing with Copeland, Merritt joined Johnnie Johnson’s band, as did Jimmy Vivino.  When Vivino and Max Weinberg put the band together that auditioned to be the house band for Conan O’Brien’s Late-Night show on NBC, Merritt got the call. O’Brien was impressed with the band’s performance.

“He said the reason he liked it is that we were enthusiastic, with great energy and didn’t act like we were too cool for the room.  So, as The Max Weinberg Seven, we became the house band for the host who replaced David Letterman.  It was a shaky start, since Conan was an unknown and there were these big expectations, as Letterman was so revered.  But the show found its footing and we did it for over 25 years.”

With over four thousand shows, it was understandably difficult for Merritt to identify one favorite Conan O’Brien story.

“All I can say is that what I liked best about Conan, and when he was the funniest, was when he went off-script.  He is quick on his feet and very smart and always found a way to make gold out of any circumstance.  He was also always positive with the guests.  He always respected the guests and was never condescending.  Some of the musical guests that came on in the beginning were not well-known at the time, like Sheryl Crow and Green Day, but went on to be very successful, so the show became known as a place for up-and-coming musical artists and stand-up comedians.”

Merritt had moved to Los Angeles during the time he was on the show, first on The Tonight Show, and then on Conan at TBS.  After that show ended, he was doing some free-lancing around L.A.

“But then the pandemic hit and everything stopped.  I was not feeling positive about staying in L.A., so decided to move to Las Vegas, as I had a few musician friends who were living there.  I met Jimmy Carpenter when he was doing a gig at the Sand Dollar and one day he asked me to step in and play.  He later asked me if I would do the Big Blues Bender as part of the Bender Brass Band in 2021, and I have done every Bender since then.  The Bender Brass Band also did an overseas festival in France in 2023.  Then we started doing the Big Easy Cruise.”

As part of the Bender Brass Band, Merritt must be able to quickly learn a large number of songs to back a variety of different types of artists.

“I can adapt very quickly to people’s styles.  You have to come in with a skill set and learn quickly how to adjust to them.  But all that I did for the TV shows prepared me for that.  You would get musical guests come on and I would not be scheduled to play with them, but then at the last minute I would have to learn their song in just a few minutes without sheet music and try to play it like I’ve been playing with them forever.  That skill set came in very handy at The Bender, where there are dozens of songs to learn and so many different artists.  You have to give them what they need to make them shine.”

When asked about his preferences for instruments/equipment, Merritt noted the following:

“My favorite instruments are the 64’ Fender Jazz Bass, 62’ Reissue Fender Jazz bass, Sadowsky J-Bass and Fodera Custom Monarch bass guitars.  For amplification I prefer Aguilar, Guitar straps by Jodi Head and strings by D’Addario.”

Merritt is currently working on an album that is a tribute to the man who played such an important role in influencing his career, Johnny Clyde Copeland.

“This project has been kicking around in my head for a couple of years.  Towards the end of 2023 I was on the road, sitting in a hotel room, somewhere in the world, thinking about how I got here, and I thought all the way back to when I started.  I thought about how Johnny was so instrumental in getting me to where I am.  I was thinking about the time I spent with him and the songs I played with him, so this recording project is a reflection of the time I spent with him.  I picked a dozen of his songs that resonated the most with me and decided to reach out to some of my colleagues and friends in the business.  I asked some guest artists to sing these songs and hope to make it something that would show to a younger audience of fans what Johnny was like as a songwriter.  I have guests like Joe Bonamassa, Popa Chubby, Jimmy Vivino, Joe Louis Walker, and his daughter, Shemekia Copeland. The work is still in progress, but I hope to have it finished by the middle of the year.  I’m excited about it because it is heartfelt.  I want to show some attention to how great a blues man he was, and how he was a great songwriter.”

Merritt is also an avid fan of classic movies and helps educate others about classic films.

“Several years ago, I noticed on Turner Classic Movies that they were inviting people to submit themselves to be a guest programmer. I’ve been a classic movie fan forever, so, I applied, and they accepted.  I introduced the 1946 film, The Best Years of our Lives, about the soldiers coming back from WWII.  I introduced that movie with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and had a great time.  Later I became friends with the late Ted Balch, who was head of the film program at Harvard Westlake in Los Angeles, and he would invite me to come in and introduce and comment on some classic films.  We shared so much of the same enthusiasm for those films.”

Most recently, Merritt joined The Musician Advisory Committee as part of the Blues Foundation, in Memphis.

“They wanted to put together this advisory board to reflect the concerns of musicians in the blues community.  They asked me to join, along with Billy Branch, Terrie Odabi, Kevin Burt, Wayne Goins and Molly Young.  Another thing I am involved with is the National Recording Preservation Board at the Library of Congress.  This is a board made up of people in the industry, including producers, engineers and musicians.  They make recommendations to the Library of Congress about what should get enshrined and preserved for cultural and artistic significance.  I’ve championed some artists that were not yet represented, like Ruth Brown and Ike Turner’s song, ‘Rocket 88’.”

Reflecting back on his career so far, Merritt stated that he believes he has “a history of being at the right place at the right time”.  However, it is clearly his considerable talent that has given him these outstanding opportunities.  You know you’ve seen him before—now you know his name. You can find out where Mike Merritt is performing next by going to www.mikemerritt.com, Facebook: Mike Merritt, Instagram: merritt8163