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John Esposito

I'm a pianist/composer who runs a small artist label, Sunjump records and I am a music professor at Bard College.

About Me

John Esposito was raised in Brooklyn and New York's Hudson Valley. He grew up in a family steeped in musical tradition. His grandfather was a noted teacher and violin maker who played violin with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and also worked with various theatre and jazz bands (including the Paul Whiteman Orchestra) on violin and reeds starting in the early 1920�s. John�s first performance experiences were playing harmonica in a Blues band as a teenager. He attended SUNY Albany as a composition major.

He spent several years after college in Albany as the house pianist at the Gemini Jazz Caf� working with J.R. Monterose and Nick Brignola and led his own group before coming to New York City in 1980. It was then that he began working with talented, young saxophonist/pianist/guitarist Arthur Rhames. For the next five years he would be an integral part of the Arthur Rhames Quartet with Jeff Siegel (drums) and Otto Gardner (bass), documented on only one recording, �Arthur Rhames Live At Soundscape.�

In 1985, John formed Second Sight � a Jazz quintet with Dave Douglas, Jeff Marx, Allen Murphy, Jeff Siegel, and Fred Berryhill. They recorded Flying With The Comet in 1986, an album of original compositions released on John�s independent label: SunJump Records followed by Tiger Tracks, recorded in 1987. Of Second Sight, Gene Santoro in Pulse! Magazine wrote: �This sextet swings like mad and bubbles over with lively effervescent chops to spare.� Throughout the 80's John also put in time as a sideman for Carter Jefferson, John Stubblefield, Roswell Rudd, Hugh Brodie and many others.

In the nineties John began working with the groups of Franklin Kiermyer and Eric Person as a pianist and arranger. He recorded four albums with Kiermyer including Solomon�s Daughter, with tenor saxophone giant Pharoah Sanders, and Kairos with the legendary Sam Rivers. John also played on four albums with Eric Person�s MetaFour beginning with Eric�s More Tales to Tell with Dave Holland and Gene Jackson.

Since 2000 John has been a full time professor at Bard College Jazz Studies and teaches ensembles, theory, repertoire and composition.

In 2006 he returned to being a bandleader with three cd releases. One is Down Blue Marlin Road � a trio album of deconstructed/reconstructed jazz standards with Ira Coleman and Pete O�Brien � another is The Blue People � a quintet date of original material featuring Eric Person , Greg Glassman , Kenny Davis and Peter O�Brien - and A Book Of Five Rings, an octet recorded live at the Knitting Factory, NYC. Since then, John has continued to release his own music and projects by friends and collaborators. John's Sunjump Records label has a current catalogue of 21 cds. Currently Available are:

2006 - John Esposito - Down Blue Marlin Road 2006 - John Esposito - The Blue People 2008 - Second Sight - Flying With The Comet 2008 - Sangeeta - Earthship 2008 - John Esposito - Book Of Five Rings 2009 - Steve Geraci - Aliqae Song 2009 - Mitch Kessler - Erratica 2009 - Marx/Siegel/Esposito - INYO 2010 - Jayna Nelson - Bloom Of Creation 2010 - John Esposito - Orisha 2011 - Mitch Kesser - Der Erlkonig 2012 Sangeeta Michael Berardi: Calling Coltrane 2012 Marx/Siegel/Esposito: Tahrir 2013 Sangeeta Michael Berardi: The Mr P Sessions 2015 Bob Murad: The Observer 2018 John Esposito Quintet: Lyra 2018 Sangeeta Michael Berardi: Music Is Love: The Manhattan Sessions 2020 Second Sight: Tiger Tracks 2020 Sangeeta Michael Berardi: Divine Song 2024 John Esposito Sextet: Laura 2024 John Esposito Trio: Blues For Outlaw Hearts

Upcoming releases of new music in 2024 include: 2 CD live concert John Esposito & A Book Of Five Rings: Vulcan. 2 CD studio and live concert - Jeff Marx: Treading Air….Breathing Fire 2 CD live concert club performances - Arthur Rhames: How Great You Are John Esposito & A Piece Of String Ensemble

info: www.sunjumprecords.com contact: [email protected]

My Jazz Story

I love making sounds that that realize my unconscious understanding of the world and reveal it to my listeners in a way that connects us all. With that in mind, I record my own work and that of friends on my label, Sunjump Records.

My House Concert Story

I present free concerts of whatever my new projects are at my studio at my home in Stuyvesant, NY. I invite about 100 friends and neighbors. They are indoors/outdoors event s that I do several times a year during the warm weather. There are people of all ages and it creates a wonderful sense of community.