Pete Malinverni

"When Pete Malinverni plays, the people listen", observed the New York Daily News.

That’s no mean feat in the Mecca of Jazz. Indeed, Jim Macnie of the Village Voice was recently moved to call Malinverni, “audacious and exquisite”. Since coming to New York in 1981, Pete has established himself as a highly respected presence in local and national club and concert performances, as well as abroad in Europe, South America, and Japan, his work earning him an entry in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, as compiled by Ira Gitler and Leonard Feather. Writing in the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier, Jack McCray called him “a fiery but elegant pianist”, and his varied collaborations stand as testament to his abilities. He’s performed or recorded in the company of jazz luminaries too numerous to mention, exhibiting what Enso Fresia of Italy’s Musica Jazz called “an extremely unconstrained and brilliant pianism”. His much- lauded 2003 NPR appearance on Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” put Malinverni before a greater public and his recordings have earned four star reviews and inclusion on “Year’s Best” lists in several publications, including Down Beat Magazine.

Pete Malinverni is a composer, too. In a four-star review in All About Jazz, Rick Anderson noted, “the jazz world is full of pianists and composers with formidable chops, but it's rare to find musicians as accomplished as Pete Malinverni who write with his level of insightful straightforwardness or play with his kind of elegant approachability.” Likewise, Dave McElfresh said in Jazz Now that “Malinverni’s writing makes as much of an impact as his playing”. A composer of great depth, passion and individuality, he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Meet the Composer Foundation and contributed works to programs sponsored by, among others, the Jazz Composers’ Collective. His music for piano trio was featured on a WNYC/NPR broadcast concert for Chamber Music America at New York’s Symphony Space. Not only have his vehicles for jazz improvisation been described by Gary Giddins in the Village Voice as “knotty and original”, but musicians and public alike agree with McElfresh in Jazz Now that Malinverni’s ballad “This Time”, the title track of his third recording as leader, is “truly the stuff standards are made of”. Since 1993 Pete has served as church musician at the Devoe Street Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY, exposing him to the music of the African-American church, and his suites for gospel choir and jazz ensemble based on the Psalms of David demonstrate his abilities as a composer on a grander scale. The 2006 release, "Joyful!", a well- received CD/DVD recording of a live concert of Pete's music for Gospel Choir and Jazz Ensemble with ArtistShare spotlighted Malinverni’s Gospel/Jazz compositions.

A native of Niagara Falls, NY, Pete Malinverni began classical piano studies with local legend Laura Copia at the tender age of six, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the prestigious Crane School of Music in upstate New York, and took his Master of Music degree from the Purchase (NY) Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano and composition with Anthony Newman, the man Wynton Marsalis called the “high priest of Bach”. Subsequent studies include intensive work with the famed Sophia Rosoff. Remembering well the learning process, he is a teacher much in demand, having served as Professor on the Jazz faculties of New York University, William Paterson University, and, currently, the Purchase Conservatory. He has also taught Jazz Appreciation to non-music majors at NYU, and Classical Ear Training at Purchase. NYU’s Continuing Professional Studies Program honored him with the Marc Crawford Jazz Educator Award, and he has successfully presented seminars and master classes in the U. S. and abroad. He has also demonstrated flair as a writer on music, penning CD liner notes as well as contributing to periodicals such as The Piano Stylist and The Record Review. On several occasions his letters have been published in Jazz Times and Down Beat.

In his four-star Down Beat review, Paul de Barros said, “Pete Malinverni doesn’t seem capable of playing a dishonest line”, and it is this unaffected, pure approach to music of real depth which draws audiences and students alike to Malinverni’s appearances. Through the release of Pete’s six recording as a leader, “Don’t Be Shy”, “The Spirit”, “This Time”, “A Very Good Year”, “Of One Mind”, “Autumn In New York” and “The Tempest”, and, March 21, 2006, “Theme and Variations”, the six most recent on Reservoir Music, one views the development of what Stuart Troup, in a feature article in New York Newsday, has called “a supple player, full of nuance”.
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Pete Malinverni: An American in London

Read "An American in London" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
September 18, 2024

The exceptional pianist Pete Malinverni's An American in London was recorded live at Pizza Express Jazz Club, London, in November 2023. Joined by British musicians Dave Green on bass and Steve Brown on drums, Malinverni offers an appreciation of the cultural intersection of American jazz and those songs that pay tribute to London, a city that continues to fascinate him. The trio craft a narrative that swings from the bustling energy of Carnaby Street to the reflective serenity of London's ...

Liner Notes

Pete Malinverni: Invisible Cities

by Thomas Conrad
August 7, 2024

They call it “the Calvino Effect." It is the fascination that Italo Calvino's unclassifiable, elusive literary works exert over artists in other media. Calvino's Invisible Cities contains unseen cities of the imagination that have inspired many paintings. It contains silent cities of dreams that have provoked much music. In Calvino's novel, Marco Polo tells of 55 cities he has visited. The descriptions are fantasies. But Marco Polo's prose-poetry and surreal urban imagery contain deeper truths than factual travelogues. ...

Live Review

Pete Malinverni Trio Celebrating Leonard Bernstein at Chris’ Jazz Café

by Victor L. Schermer
May 28, 2024

Pete Malinverni Trio Celebrating Leonard Bernstein Chris' Jazz Café Philadelphia, PA May 18, 2024 In 2022, pianist Pete Malinverni released a trio recording, On the Town: Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein (Planet Arts Recordings). Just last year, Bradley Cooper's biopic about Leonard Bernstein, Maestro (Netflix, 2023), made quite a splash and got several Oscar nominations and other accolades, but Malinverni's recording was released prior to and is unrelated to ...

Album Review

Pete Malinverni: On the Town: Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein

Read "On the Town: Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
January 13, 2022

The presumptive title of this release is On The Town, but in reality it covers more than just the music from that titled 1944 Leonard Bernstein Broadway musical. The ever thoughtful and vivid pianist Pete Malinverni along with his savvy and accomplished companions bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Jeff Hamilton have made this release an oeuvre to New York City as exemplified by the music of Leonard Bernstein which was presented in three well known musicals: On The Town, Wonderful ...

Album Review

Pete Malinverni: On the Town: Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein

Read "On the Town: Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein " reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 10, 2022

Pianist Pete Malinverni's album, On the Town, is subtitled “Plays Leonard Bernstein," and it's an homage he has wanted to put on record for many years—ever since he met Bernstein in person while performing at an opening-night party for a production of the opera Tosca at the Met in NYC. Bernstein, he recalls, spent much of the evening hanging around the piano, not with his more celebrated dinner companions. ("Real musicians want to hang out with the band," Malinverni says). ...

Album Review

Pete Malinverni & Juliet Kurtzman: Candlelight: Love In The Time Of Cholera

Read "Candlelight: Love In The Time Of Cholera" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
December 9, 2020

Gabriel García Márquez is a Columbian author whose novel Love In The Time Of Cholera forms part of the title of this duo recording by jazz pianist Pete Malinverni and classical violinist Juliet Kurtzman. The theme of the novel is about love found, lost and found again, while the musical program presented here keeps the love theme in focus surveying jazz and classical musical styles from the Americas. Malinverni has an evocative and vibrant playing style ...

Album Review

Pete Malinverni: Heaven

Read "Heaven" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
July 19, 2018

Il titolo di questo disco allude al cielo non in senso atmosferico. Il pianista Pete Malinverni ha passato 18 anni a suonare alle funzioni della Devoe Street Baptist Church in Brooklyn e dopo essere stato colpito dalla morte della moglie e dal sospetto di una grave malattia, ha pensato di realizzare un album a contenuto spirituale. Diciamo spirituale e non religioso perchè Malinverni manifesta una prospettiva olistica e nella presentazione si riferisce al cielo come dimensione trascendente, non legata a ...

Event

Pete Malinverni's Solo Piano Performance at River Cafe

Source: All About Jazz
September 3, 2008

Don't miss this opportunity to catch one of six solo piano performances by one of New York's most inventive composers, Pete Malinverni. Pete will perform at The River Cafe, one of the most popular restaurants in NYC, which offers the best view in New York, of Lower Manhattan and the East River, including the Statue of Liberty. Dates/Times Sunday, September 7th 7pm-12 midnight Wednesday, September 10th 7pm-12 midnight ...
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Performance / Tour

Pete Malinverni's CD release concert for "Joyful" - Saturday, May 6

Source: All About Jazz
May 4, 2006

Pianist/Composer Pete Malinverni Releases Joyful! on June 20

A Live Gospel-Jazz CD/DVD on ArtistShare, Featuring Steve Wilson, Joe Magnarelli, Todd Coolman, Dwayne “Cook" Broadnax and The Devoe Street Baptist Choir

“Pete Malinverni is a polished piano stylist, one of the most talented jazzmen in New York ... utterly reliable and indispensable"-- Steve Futterman, The New Yorker

“Audacious and exquisite"--Jim Macnie, The Village Voice

“Pete Malinverni doesn't seem capable of playing a dishonest line" --Paul DeBarros, DownBeat Magazine

Combining the musical ...
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Performance / Tour

Pete Malinverni's "Joyful!" CD/DVD Release Concert, May 6 at 4:00 PM

Source: All About Jazz
April 11, 2006

May 6 at 4:00 PM - Pete Malinverni's “Joyful!" CD/DVD Release Concert At The Devoe Street Baptist Church In Williamsburg, Brooklyn (140 Devoe Street) Featuring: Pete Malinverni (piano and conductor) Steve Wilson (alto saxophone) Joe Magnarelli (trumpet and flugelhorn) Todd Coolman (bass) Dwayne “Cook" Broadnax (drums) And The Devoe Street Baptist Church Choir Featuring vocalist Yvette Glover (Savion Glover's mother) Jazz vocalist ...
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Recording

Two New Recordings from Pete Malinverni

Source: All About Jazz
March 28, 2006

The spring of 2006 will see the release of two important recordings by critically acclaimed jazz pianist/composer Pete Malinverni.

The two releases, Theme & Variations and Joyful!, represent an interesting paradigm. They appear, at first glance, to be recordings of wholly diverse musical forms and yet they truly reveal two brilliant sides of the musical sensibility of one very special artist.

“Pete Malinverni is a polished piano stylist, one of the most talented jazzmen in New York ... utterly reliable ...
read more

123

Recording

Two New Recordings by Critically Acclaimed Jazz Pianist/Composer Pete Malinverni

Source: All About Jazz
March 17, 2006

The Spring of 2006 will see the release of two important recordings by critically acclaimed jazz pianist/composer Pete Malinverni. The two releases, Theme & Variations and Joyful!, represent an interesting paradigm. They appear, at first glance, to be recordings of wholly diverse musical forms and yet they truly reveal two brilliant sides of the musical sensibility of one very special artist.

“Pete Malinverni is a polished piano stylist, one of the most talented jazzmen in New York ... utterly reliable ...
read more

133

Performance / Tour

Pete Malinverni Gospel/Jazz ArtistShare Project Launched

Source: All About Jazz
June 6, 2005

Believing that the musical forms Gospel Music and Jazz were “separated at birth”, Pete Malinverni has set about reintroducing these two long lost siblings. To that end, he has been composing music for Gospel Choir and Jazz Quartet for several years and by now has quite a store of selections crafted into suites, featuring singing by a Gospel Choir and soloists and improvisations by some of the brightest lights in jazz today, all knitted together by a narration. This is ...
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Event