Kate Wyatt

Celebrated Canadian pianist and composer Kate Wyatt is one of the top tier jazz musicians in the city of Montreal. She has been praised as having “musical ideas and a style of playing and writing that is on par with the current jazz piano elite: Mehldau, Yaron Herman, Shai Maestro, Fred Hersch.”, and has been hailed as “one of the top artists of Montreal, Quebec, or even Canadian jazz.” (Cardin/Brunet, panm360.com). Her most recent album “Artifact” was released to overwhelmingly excellent critical reviews, and was featured on “Best Jazz of 2022” lists from Canada, the US and Europe. From Peter Hum of the Ottawa Citizen: “Pianist and composer Kate Wyatt is making some of Canada’s most exciting and engrossing small-ensemble jazz these days”.

Kate Wyatt has toured extensively both nationally and internationally, and has performed with many recognized and respected musicians, including Kenny Wheeler, Jay Clayton, Ira Coleman, Phil Dwyer, Christine Jensen, Itamar Borochov, Yannick Rieu, Don Thompson, and the Orchestre national de jazz de Montreal (ONJ). She has a passion for improvisation and innovation, and strives for a high level of sensitivity and interaction in her performances. Her music has been recognized with awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, FACTOR, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal, and in 2025 she was nominated for the prestigious national Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award.

As well as being a passionate performer and composer, Wyatt is a deeply invested music educator. She heads the jazz program at Marianopolis College and conducts masterclasses around the country. Kate has been working as part of the Canadian Amateur Musicians/Musiciens Amateurs du Canada (CAMMAC) teaching team for over 10 years and has recently been asked to join the faculty at JazzWorks Canada.

Awards

Canada Council for the Arts

Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec

FACTOR

Conseil des arts de Montréal

Nominated for the 2025 Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award

Kate Wyatt: Artifact

Read "Artifact" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
July 4, 2022

At this point, in June of 2022, there is not a lot of internet chatter concerning Montreal-based pianist Kate Wyatt. Her website does not include a biography. But a trip to YouTube land reveals a bit of music from her debut CD release, Artifact. That may be all anyone needs in terms of an introduction. It is uncertain what can be learned from those “played with" and “performed alongside" nuggets that are common in new artist intros anyway.

Website

All About Jazz Top 10 Tracks: July 2022

Source: All About Jazz
August 1, 2022

All About Jazz features a free song every day spanning all genres of jazz, and of the tracks featured in July, these ten represent our reader's favorites as indicated by total listens. Musicians and record labels can submit full length MP3s for consideration here. Enjoy! Top Tracks Last Kiss Sal La Rocca From: Shifted 03:43 Artifact Kate Wyatt From: Artifact 08:37 Coffee and Cigarettes Ariane Racicot ...
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“Wyatt has musical ideas and a style of playing and writing that is on par with the current jazz piano elite (Mehldau, Yaron Herman, Shai Maestro, Fred Hersch…).” – Frederic Cardin, panm360.com

“Excellent pianist Kate Wyatt… could be one of the top artists of Montreal, Quebec, or even Canadian jazz.” - Alain Brunet, panm360.com

“Playful, contemplative, probing, intense, passionate; all contained in a deep pocket. Those who hear her tend to come back for more.”
– Saku Mantere, PienemmätPurot.com (Finland)

“Excellent pianist Kate Wyatt… could be one of the top artists of Montreal, Quebec, or even Canadian jazz.” - Alain Brunet, panm360.com

“Playful, contemplative, probing, intense, passionate; all contained in a deep pocket. Those who hear her tend to come back for more.”
– Saku Mantere, PienemmätPurot.com (Finland)

“Montreal pianist Kate Wyatt excels at exploratory jazz”
- Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen

“[Kate Wyatt’s] playing and compositions are first rate… captivating from the opening track. Simply put, this album checks all the boxes for a powerfully enjoyable jazz quartet experience. Highly recommended. ★★★★1/2 out of five” - Keith Black, WinnipegFreePress.com

“This is an absolutely brilliant recording with four musicians I had not heard of before I put the record in the player. But now I have finally got a favorite band from Canada… I’m looking forward to the next outing from Wyatt and her musical brothers-in-law” – Jan Granlie, Salt-Peanuts.eu (Norway)

“Artifact… is filled with melody, spirit, and a joy for playing together that brings the listener hope. This album is a gem. Highly recommended!!” – Richard Kamins, Step Tempest (USA)

“The rapport between the four players on Kate Wyatt's Artifact is at an exceptionally high level... an ever-evolving dialogue that makes the performance feel fresh, spontaneous, and alive. Call it vital music by vital players.” – Ron Schepper, Textura (USA)

“Artifact is a beautifully-executed debut… a shining example of what's possible if four talented folks listen and play so well… there will be few better across Canada this year.” – Will Chernoff, Rhythm Changes

“A… breath-taking angular listening jazz session that’s a most impressive debut… this is sitting down jazz that would probably bring you to your feet if you heard it live.” - Chris Spector, MidwestRecords.com (USA)

“Pianist and composer Kate Wyatt is making some of Canada’s most exciting and engrossing small-ensemble jazz these days” - Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen

“Distinctive melodies… lovely harmonies… great soloing. Artifact says that pianist/composer Kate Wyatt is on the rise.
– Dan McClenaghan, AllAboutJazz.com (International)

“Wyatt's excellence and musicianship have long been recognized by city locals; Artifact should do much to apprise listeners beyond Quebec's borders of her gifts.” – Ron Schepper, Textura

“Artifact is a record made by a particularly cohesive quartet who bring the excellent compositions of Kate Wyatt alive in a personal and very successful manner. A fantastic debut album that leaves us curious and impatient to hear the next work by Wyatt.” - Eugenio Mirti, Jazz Espresso (Italy)

“Artifact is an adventurous soundscape that sweeps the listener into a breathtaking exploration… daring, original rhythms set [it] apart as a choice pick for instrumental album connoisseurs” – Midwest Book Review (USA)

“A very impressive first effort, Wyatt touches on intense, passionate and rhythmic ideas, and it makes for a very memorable and engaging peek into her very creative mind and precise execution.” - Take Effect (USA)

“Gorgeous jazz composition from Kate Wyatt. A real gift for connoisseurs of high quality music for the soul and heart” – nagamag.com (USA)

“[Artifact] is worthy of honour… material that is melodic, mysterious, and bright.” - Ivan Rod, ivanrod.dk (Denmark)

“Artifact presents a thoughtful and intelligent contemporary approach. Kate Wyatt offers particularly luminous piano playing as she leads us on her melodic explorations. This album is worth its weight in gold.”
– Christophe Rodrigues, SortiesJazzNights.com

“[In Artifact] the unbearable lightness of the keyboard flies over incantatory narratives to improvisations that are strongly framed by flawless writing. A very poetic inventiveness in her playing gives this very contemporary jazz a kind of nostalgic sensibility of the future. Very successful first release under her name which tickles our impatience to see what comes next in the pianistic adventures of Ms. Wyatt.” - Jean-Michel Schlosser, CouleursJazz (France)

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