Lex Korten

Over the last few years, the name Lex Korten has become increasingly difficult to miss for onlookers in the worldwide community of contemporary Jazz. A New York City native, Korten’s musicianship has earned coveted international awards and undisputed professional recognition, landing his voice a place among top-call rising stars on a global scale. The pianist & composer’s name has appeared in publications like Vogue and The New York Times as well as various critics’ polls, and he's established an enduring presence in the projects of renowned artists such as Pulitzer Prize winner/MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey, Joel Ross, Melissa Aldana, Mike Moreno, Jaleel Shaw, Robert Hurst and Ari Hoenig. A mainstay in his own generation's foremost groups, Korten has recorded nearly three dozen albums with all kinds of figures in the extended cultural family of Black American Music.

At the age of 25, Lex won first prize in the 2020 UNISA International Jazz Piano Competition and later produced a limited release solo piano outing entitled Foreword, recorded live in South Africa. Surfacing from the pandemic, he toured extensively for two years with the Melissa Aldana quartet across North and South America while maintaining a busy recording and performing schedule at home. 2023 marked an explosive year for Korten’s bandleading as he held residencies in multiple noted clubs inviting some of New York’s most storied Jazz artists to share the stage under his name. Since then he has spent several months of each year performing at major festivals, theaters and clubs across the US, Europe, Asia and beyond.

Since his formative years, Korten has had ample opportunity to learn from some of the most dedicated and loving mentors in the piano pantheon, most closely with Geri Allen and Benny Green. To represent the spirit of America’s great original art form — a music with social purpose and irrevocable partnership with African-American and other diasporic heritages — is a privilege and responsibility Korten strives to fulfill unyieldingly. In performing, he seeks to worldbuild alongside his audiences and nurture a deeper, more vulnerable bidirectional experience across the barrier of the stage.

In service of these ideals, Korten’s musicianship has been additionally called upon by established bandleaders like Dayna Stephens, Caroline Davis, Clarence Penn, Fay Victor, Jonathan Kreisberg, Or Bareket, Lage Lund, Joe Farnsworth, Massimo Biolcati, John Ellis, Chris Turner, Joel Harrison, Stacy Dillard and Ndabo Zulu, many of whom shaped the pianist’s listening from an impressionable age. He’s also held the piano chair in an impressive cross-section of projects led by high achieving emerging artists including Morgan Guerin, Simon Moullier, Milena Casado, Zoh Amba, Sasha Berliner, Luther Allison, Ben Solomon, Alfredo Colón, Nicola Caminiti, Alden Hellmuth, Tyrone Allen, Hannah Marks, Ben Tiberio, Claire Dickson, Alex Hitchcock, Dave Adewumi, Linda Sikhakhane, Nick Dunston, DoYeon Kim, Nicole McCabe, Logan Kane, Juan Diego Villalobos, Kweku Sumbry and Latin Grammy winner Linda Briceño among others.

On September 19th, 2025, Lex Korten released his debut full length original album, Canopy, on Sounderscore Records to widespread attention and critical acclaim from outlets like The Wire Magazine, WNYC, All About Jazz, For the Record and others.

Lex Korten currently teaches as a private instructor at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, and continues to give lessons and masterclasses worldwide, as well as to international visitors at his home in Upper Manhattan. In addition to his New School commitments, Korten has taught students at Oberlin, Manhattan School of Music, Frost School of Music (Miami), USC, Juilliard, Royal Academy of Music (London), UNC Greensboro, University of Rochester and LACHSA in official and unofficial capacities.