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Keith Javors

“It takes a musician’s true artistic love and commitment to the art to really peer through his or her music to find this type of end." -Jazz Review

About Me

An internationally acclaimed pianist/composer, brilliant pioneering music educator and visionary record producer/entrepreneur, Dr. Keith Javors has already made an important mark in the world of jazz and continues to break new ground with various musical projects that build on his expansive creative philosophy. Keith is President and CEO of Inarhyme Records LLC, a global record label and music production company which has, in only a year since inception, produced several critically-acclaimed and cutting-edge releases (On The Bright Side, Coming Together, Rhyme and Reason, The State of Black America), Inarhyme has produced concerts in North America and Europe, garnished praise in ranking including #2 on the Chicago Tribune’s Top Innovative CD Releases, and features such leading artists as Chris Potter, Terell Stafford, Oleg Kireyev, Steve Wilson, D-Priest, Boris Kozlov, and more.

Described by longtime colleague, the legendary saxophonist Bunky Green, as a “creative force with an urgent message that cannot be denied”, Keith is an emotional and riveting player, transforming audiences and bands with his constant creativity and boundless energy. He can be heard on several recordings under his own name, Mantra, From Here To The Street, Mo’ City Jungle, The Free Project, Coming Together, Rhyme and Reason. One listener summed it up like this: There are many musicians who play brilliantly from their head, but Keith is rare in that he comes straight from the heart. Jazz Review echoes such sentiments, saying “It takes a musician’s true artistic love and commitment to the art to really peer through his or her music to find this type of end.”

Keith and his groups have performed at many of the major festivals, clubs, and performance halls around the world; The Rockefeller Center, the International House of Music in Moscow, Jubilee Festival at Piwnica pod Baranami, North Sea Jazz Festival, Yaroslavl Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Vienne Jazz Festival, numerous International Association for Jazz Education Conferences, the Midwest Clinic, the Wichita Jazz Festival, Notre Dame Jazz Festival, and clubs such as Blues Alley, Smalls, the Jazz Showcase, Union of Composers Club, Smoke, the Iridium, Caravan of Dreams, and many others. Javors has worked in collaboration with artists including Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Terence Blanchard, Dave Brubeck, Kenny Garrett, Slide Hampton, the Heath Brothers, Dave Holland, Pat Martino, Eddie Palmieri, Sam Rivers, Maria Schneider, Clark Terry, George Coleman, Eddie Henderson, Conrad Herwig, and Chris Potter, to name a few. .

Dr. Javors is rare in the degree of his success not only as a producer and artist, but equally as an award-winning music educator. A distinguished graduate of the University of North Texas (B.M., M.M. Jazz Studies) and the first graduate of the University of Illinois Jazz Pedagogy program (Ed.D. Music Education/Jazz Studies), he has held successful teaching positions at UNT, UIUC, Eastern Illinois University, the University of North Florida, and Settlement Music School. His past students occupy positions in major symphony and jazz orchestras, as esteemed arts administrators and college professors, and as successful musicians in a variety of genres. A gifted diagnostician, Javors is a highly-sought after guest artist and clinician at high schools and colleges throughout the United States and abroad because of his ability to achieve real and instantaneous results. Jazz Times lauds Javors’ endeavors, noting, “The degree of hard work, patience, study, blood, sweat and tears necessary to produce a band of this quality is phenomenal.”

With several new projects on the horizon, Keith continues to push the artistic envelope with surprising and refreshing results. NYC Jazz Journalist Russ Musto: “Keith is one who certainly can and does, traveling a high road that steers clear of the Ivory Towers and chooses instead more interesting places.” He maintains a busy performing and teaching schedule.

For more information on Dr. Keith Javors, visit www.inarhymerecords.com and www.keithjavors.com