Results for "Jazz piano"

Christopher Lucas Wilson Trio

Christopher Lucas Wilson is a hard swingin' pianist originally from metropolitan Detroit, later transplanted to Los Angeles, and recently relocated to Chicago. As a child, Christopher was first introduced to music on a Grinnell Brothers piano in his parents’ living room by a now unknown piano teacher. Although this teacher’s name remains a mystery, Christopher remains indebted for his role in instilling a lifelong passion for music. 

The enlightening and freeing sound of swing is what first attracted Christopher to jazz. His interest in this feeling is what led him to begin exploring Detroit’s rich musical history which was and is replete with musical legends. He first studied with the late greats Bess Bonnier and Marcus Belgrave. Later, he would join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Civic Jazz Program where he first met esteemed bassist and educator Rodney Whitaker. By the time Christopher graduated from high school, he was entrenched in swing and bebop and would go on to further his studies within the jazz program at Michigan State University. While at Michigan State, he had the pleasure of studying and performing with Rodney Whitaker, Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson, Derrick Gardner, Vincent Chandler, Randy Gilespie, Diego Rivera, and Rick Roe. After graduating Christopher immediately began performing with his trio in Detroit, including a weekly jam session at the heralded Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. A short year later, Christopher relocated to sunny swingin’ Los Angeles where he fell in love with Southern California and spent nearly a decade there as a result. During that time he played regularly with his trio and released two albums, "Feelin' Better" and “Leaving Los Angeles." Christopher moved to Chicago shortly after and is honored and excited to be part of another incredible city rich with musical history. 

Laura Klein

Svetlana Marinchenko

Svetlana Marinchenko is originally from Russia, Moscow. She  started to play music when she was 17, after hearing Coltrain's Love Supreme. After 3 years of experience in music, she managed to get enrolled in the Musorgsky Colledge of Music. Svetlana studied with the famous Russian jazz pianist Andrey Kondakov. During the first year of study, Svetlana discovered herself as a composer  and organized her own combo, Svetamuzika. Svetamuzika has participated in many international jazz festivals, such as "Close Encounters" Helsinki, Rajation Jazz Festival Helsinki and "Petrojazz" Sankt-Peterburg. They also played concerts in renowned jazz clubs in Russia and Finland, such as Igor Butman Club, Kozlov Club, JFC, Jazz Philharmonic. In 2015 Svetamuzika released their first album Present Simple on the Lable Art-Beat. The recording was attended by well-known and modern musicians from Russia and Germany, such as Anton Davidyants, Martin Miller, Peter Ivshin. After successful release in Moscow and Sankt-Peterburg, Svetamuzika went on a big tour of Russia.

Mercedes Mahlatse Boshego

Born: January, 1989

Mercedes Mahlatse Boshego commonly known as 

Mr. Mercedes is a music producer/Maker from 

South Africa, born in Johannesburg 1989 and 

moved to be raised in Tshwane on the dusty 

streets of Soshanguve. 

His journey in music started when he was 5 when 

he discovered his love for keys after persistently 

asking for 1. Then he taught himself year by year 

getting better till he decided to go a bit deeper into 

production. At age 14 he met up with the late DJ 

Michael A Levy

Born: July 2, 1948

My early musical influesnes were entirely classical. Primarily Chopin. Actually, my mom taught me my first stride bass tune, St.Louis  Blues. In my teens I started playing in bands and acquired copies of the then “illegal” fake books. The world of standards opened up and I learned lots of them, comping basic chords in  my left hand. 

Around 15 I became exposed to the jazz genre. Miles, Monk, Brubeck, MJQ. Those sounds became my jazz foundation. I tried to improvise but it was unguided and not very adventurous. Of course I listened to a lot of lesser luminaries, but still great… Horace Silver, Yusef Lateef, Ahmad Jamal, Ravi Shankar, etc. 

Bryan Wright

Bryan S. Wright, Ph.D., is a pianist and Grammy-nominated musicologist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he teaches at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also the founder and executive producer of Rivermont Records, a label specializing in ragtime and jazz.

A native of Lynchburg, Virginia, Bryan first showed musical interest as a toddler and began classical piano lessons with Sandra Horwege at age 5, adding violin lessons two years later. In his early teens, Bryan became keenly interested in ragtime, jazz, and related styles, adding pieces by Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, and others to his repertoire. By 15 he was host of a popular weekly radio program, Sunday Night Nostalgia, heard in Central Virginia over WLVA, WVLR, and WLQE. The program featured big bands, vintage jazz, and “old-time radio” dramas (with occasional live in-studio dramas that Bryan directed). As an undergraduate at the College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia), he furthered his piano studies with Christine Niehaus, taking time to host a weekly ragtime radio program, Elite Syncopations, on WCWM. (The program provided the groundwork for the first 24-hour internet ragtime radio station, Elite Syncopations Radio, which Bryan operated from 2003 to 2010.)

Christopher James

Christopher James (born Christopher James Roberts) is an American composer, producer (Paula Cole, Renée Fleming, Val Gardena) and ex-CEO of Universal Music Group’s Classical and Jazz division. An accomplished classical pianist, he earned a B.A. in Music and German Literature at Lewis and Clark College in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. His graduate studies in Musicology at the University of Illinois took him to Germany for post-graduate research. He stayed, and for several years he composed and produced music for the German film and television industry. With a style reflecting pop, as well as his classical and jazz training, James’ music was heard in prime time on various German National TV networks

Sebastian Gahler

Born: October 27, 1978

Sebastian Gahler – known for his melodic Modern Jazz pieces – is a highly acclaimed, award-winning pianist, keyboardist and composer. Several stays in the USA have influenced his style at an early stage of his career. He graduated with honors from the Cologne University of Music. Today, his trio is an integral part of the German jazz scene. In this formation he released three albums: „Meditation“, „Trust“, „Down The Street ft. Wolfgang Engstfeld“. He has played at many festivals – most recently he was invited to be the artist of residence at the International Jazzfestival Viersen, Germany

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”.

Alessandro Di Liberto

Born: February 5, 1964

Alessandro Di Liberto started studying the guitar at the age of eight, then switched to piano under the guidance of maestro S. Figliola, taking private lessons. In ‘85 he joined the Conservatory in Cagliari where he started studying classical composition with A.Guaragna. In the same period he formed his first live band and started performing in different venues in Cagliari. Having developed a passion for jazz he was accepted as a student at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, where he studied jazz piano for several years under the guidance of pianist Rob van Kreeveld. During his stay in Holland, together with German saxophonist Klaus Gesing he founded the Di Liberto-Gesing quartet. With this quartet he toured around Holland and also took part in some international prestigious festivals as the North See Jazz Festival (The Hague), Beauforthuis (Holland), Villach (Austria), Jazz a Vienne (France). In '98 he recorded a CD in Austria entitled: "Harmonix" with the above mentioned quartet featuring {{m: Christian Weber = 14749}} on double bass and {{m: Ewald Zach = 131866}} on drums.