Jazz Articles about Geoffrey Keezer

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 ...

Geoff Keezer: Zero One

by C. Michael Bailey
May 1, 2000

Geoff Keezer was the last pianist in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, performing between 1988 and 1990. At age 17 he showed himself a capable hard bop pianist whose performance personality echoes that of Horace Silver, Bobby Timmons, and more recently, Benny Green. Since the demise of Blakey, Keezer has logged time for Sunnyside, Blue Note, DIW/Columbia and Sackville as a leader and accompanied the likes of Art Farmer, Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart, and Ray Brown. Keezer shows up here with ...

Benny Golson: The Jazz Messengers: The Legacy Of Art Blakey

by Jim Santella
September 1, 1998

Five former members of The Jazz Messengers plus drummer Lewis Nash make up this Art Blakey Legacy Band that has toured the U.S. recently and paid homage to the legendary teacher and leader. Tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Geoff Keezer, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Nash perform compositions written by Messengers for that unit: Wayne Shorter wrote “One by One," Fuller wrote “A La Mode," Blanchard wrote “Oh, By the Way," Cedar Walton wrote ...