Michael Bellar has performed music on six continents but being a native of North Carolina, he stands by his slow, southern roots. Along with creating music and touring with his group, the AS-IS Ensemble, Michael has also toured and or recorded with Amos Lee, Art Garfunkel, Howie Day, Wheatus, Jump Little Children, Teddy Geiger, Euro pop superstar Giorgia and Jay Clifford’s Rosebud. His national TV appearances include Late Night with David Letterman, the Late Show with Conan O’Brien Show, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Ellen Degeneres Show, TRL, Good Morning America, Regis and Kelly and the CBS Morning Show. Michael has produced and scored music for CUT Music (LA), Fluid (NYC), Bang Music and Razorhead.
Michael is the founder, composer and keyboardist of the AS-IS Ensemble. This highly excitable, alt-jazz group has performed at such venues as Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, South By Southwest and the JVC, Bell Atlantic and New York City Winter Jazz Festivals along with being the former house band at the world-famous Blue Note jazz club in NYC. They have opened for John Scofield, Tea Leaf Green, Medeski Martin & Wood, Grant Green Jr. and JFJO. In a review of their first ever performance in New York City, they were hailed as “Generation Next” by Billboard Magazine. The group has recorded three studio CDs – “Turned On Turned Up” (2009), “Like It Is,” and “REACT!”
