Cliff Korman

Born and trained in New York, Cliff Kormanʼs relationship with Brazilian music began in 1981 at the Creative Music Studio’s World Music Institute in Woodstock, where he met the legendary Brazilian clarinetist Paulo Moura. From their friendship and musical partnership a series of concerts and recordings was born: Mood Ingênuo: The Dream of Pixinguinha and Duke Ellington (Jazzheads); Rhapsody in Bossa, on the music of Gershwin and Jobim; Gafieira Jazz, a celebration of the sounds of Brazilian ballroom, and the Gnattali/Monk Project, exploring two of the most influential American pianists of the century.
While still in NY, he produced and arranged a number of Brazilian Jazz CDs for the Chesky label, including Chuck Mangione’s The Feeling’s Back and Entre Amigos, featuring vocalist Rosa Passos and bassist Ron Carter. His recording Migrations (Planet Arts, 2004) illustrates the mark Brazilian music and culture have made on his compositions and improvisational language.

Since establishing his spiritual and physical home in Brasil, Cliff has become one of the most acclaimed and respected North American artists and teachers in the country.  He is currently on faculty at the Villa Lobos Institute- UNIRIO in Rio de Janeiro, teaching Popular Brazilian Music and Improvisation, and with the Instituto Paulo Moura coordinates the project to digitalize and research Moura’s musical archive.

His release Brasilified (Tiger Turn, 2022)  is the fruit of his projects with Brazilian musical partners Augusto Mattoso (bass), Rafael Barata (drums) and Paulo Levi (saxophone), features his arrangements of works by Paulo Moura, Milton Nascimento, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Wayne Shorter, and his own composition Brasilified, and represents Cliff’s “poly-musical” and fluid way of thinking, writing, and playing. His most recent release Bossas and Ballads: Cliff Korman Piano Solo  (Tiger Turn, 2024) is his first solo recording made in Brasil, and reflects his love for adagios, and his interpretative approach of reharmonization and orchestration. The album includes readings of “Montreux” (Hermeto Pascoal), “Encontros e Despedidas” (Milton Nascimento), “Some Other Time” (Bernstein, Comden and Greene), “Michelle” (Lennon and McCartney) and his own composition “Almonds and Roses.”

Cliff also appears on numerous recordings made in Brasil, including the series “Bossa Jazz” which features his arrangements of songs of composer Pacifico Mascarenas , “Samblues” (Juarez Moreira) and “Era Só Começo Nosso Fim” (Yuri Popoff).

Cliff holds a Master of Arts in Jazz Performance from the City College of New York, where he trained with Roland Hanna, Ron Carter and Kenny Barron, and a DMA from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with  Dave Liebman, composer Ludmilla Ulehla, and arranger Mike Abene.

He is co-author of the instructional book “Inside the Brazilian Rhythm Section” (Sher Music 2002) and contributed to the Jazz Times 2005-2006 “Jazz Education Guide” with an article in “Tales from the Practice Room”.