Jazz Articles about Geoffrey Keezer

Geoffrey Keezer / Peter Sprague Band: Mill Creek Road

by Robert Bush
February 9, 2011

Geoffrey Keezer / Peter Sprague BandMill Creek RoadSBE Records2011 Pianist Geoffrey Keezer and guitarist Peter Sprague have combined their considerable musical forces in forming this band, the first fruits of which are available now as Mill Creek Road on Sprague's own SBE Records. They are joined in this effort by the up and coming Los Angeles double bass virtuoso Hamilton Price and the ubiquitous Duncan Moore on drums for this (mostly) quartet ...

Geoffrey Keezer: Making, And Controlling, His New Music

by R.J. DeLuke
July 21, 2008

Pianist/composer Geoffrey Keezer has been playing piano since age three and has been on the road since 1989 when he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers after a year at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Over the years, he's recorded steadily and played with numerous jazz luminaries including Ray Brown, Diana Krall, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Benny Green, and Mulgrew Miller.But of late, things have changed for Keezer. In a few different ways.

Geoffrey Keezer: Wildcrafted: Live at The Dakota

by Jerry D'Souza
December 18, 2005

Geoffrey Keezer has established himself as one of the prime pianists of his day. He is adventurous, but adventure does not take him over the precipice. He plays thoughtfully, even as he gives vent to a rush of notes. Imagination and art work in close cleave. This live recording features Keezer originals, a couple of standards, and songs that have impressed him. That's a nice enough balance, and Keezer's trio brings it to fulfillment.

“Stompin' at the Savoy ...

Geoffrey Keezer: Wildcrafted: Live at the Dakota

by John Kelman
November 7, 2005

Pianist Geoffrey Keezer's career has consistently delivered on the early promise he displayed when he first emerged on the scene as a precocious nineteen year-old in Art Blakey's last Jazz Messengers. In the past fifteen years he's recorded and/or toured alongside contemporaries Roy Hargrove and Christian McBride, in addition to working with legends like Ray Brown and Art Farmer.

But since the early part of this decade, and with two projects in particular, Keezer has truly emerged from under the ...

Geoffrey Keezer: Falling Up

by C. Michael Bailey
October 16, 2003

Geoffrey Keezer has as a distinction being the penultimate pianist to perform in the Ray Brown Trio before the bassist’s death in 2002. He is a durable stylist with a big orchestral sound that he provided for the late Brown on recordings such as Live at Starbucks and Walk On . Mr. Keezer has also released well-received recordings as leader, such as Zero One and Sublime . His most recent release is one he was tapped for as the next ...

Geoff Keezer: Sublime: Honoring the Music of Hank Jones

by C. Michael Bailey
May 6, 2003

Thirty-two-year-old Midwesterner Geoff Keezer was one of the last pianists to work as a part of the Ray Brown Trio. Many writers that I have spoken with feel that he was the quintessential Ray Brown pianist. The late Mr. Brown favored double-fisted orchestral pianists with a jones for the blues but also a strong ballad sensibility. I have always favored the late Gene Harris, but Keezer might edge him out by a nose. Mr. Keezer’s previous recording Zero One was ...

Benny Golson: One Day, Forever

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 2001

Benny Golson’s latest Arkadia release, One Day, Forever, arose from a taping of some of Golson’s previous band members from the Jazztet: Art Farmer and Curtis Fuller. At the end of a European tour, they were so rushed they that they didn’t record long enough to fill an entire CD. Arkadia owner Bob Karcy kept the tape in the can, and he and Golson kept that recording in mind, in the intervening five years, during which Farmer passed. After Golson ...