Results for "Kerry Politzer"

Kerry Politzer

Born: December 19

Kerry Politzer is a Portland-based jazz pianist, composer, and educator. She is on the music faculty of Portland State University and has also taught at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing University, the University of Portland, and the University of Manitoba. 

Kerry received a Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied improvisation and composition with the late jazz guru Charlie Banacos, and a Master of Music from Rowan University. 

Kerr has released nine albums as a leader, the latest of which is Alternate Route (Whirlwind Recordings) featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jaleel Shaw. Other albums of note include Blue in Blue, which featured saxophonist Donny McCaslin and was termed a “first-rate jazz outing” by AllAboutJazz.com. She has also been a featured sideman on albums of George Colligan, Laura Dreyer, and the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE). Her commissions include works for the PJCE as well as a solo piano piece, “Microclimates,” for the pianist Andree-Ann Deschenes. This piece was featured on Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline.

Trish Clowes, Louise McMonagle, The Messthetics, Noah Garabedian & More

by Ludovico Granvassu
March 14, 2026

Enjoy a playlist of music that slips through the cracks, rewards the open ear; and often crosses cultural and stylistic borders.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Olivier Hutman, Lamine Cissokho “Song for My Father" The Following (Fremaux) 0:16 Host talks 4:06 The Messthetics, James ...

Kerry Politzer: Alternate Route

by Dan McClenaghan
January 11, 2026

A first impression as pianist Kerry Politzer's ninth album spins: This is an artist adept at bringing a band together for a one-day studio outing to play a bunch of her forward-leaning compositions to turn out a vibrant, crisp-sounding set. Obvious also, on tune # 1--"Before It's Too Late"--is that guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel has a special ...

Kerry Politzer: Alternate Route

by Paul Rauch
January 6, 2026

Pianist Kerry Politzer had released eight albums before Alternate Route (Whirlwind, 2025), though to many jazz listeners they essentially flew under the radar. Politzer is a Portland, Oregon-based musician on the faculty at the esteemed jazz studies program at Portland State. With this, her ninth offering, more attention and accolades are bound to come her way. ...

Alternate Route

By Kerry Politzer

Label: Whirlwind Recordings
Released: 2025
Track listing: Before It's Too Late; Here We Go Again; Watercolor; Storm Warning; Alternate Route; Stopped at a Green Light; The Sunrise Wants to Break Through; Intensity; Change of Plans; No Present Like the Time; Tara.

Holiday Music By Nicole Zuraitis, Darius de Haas, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Maud Hixson, New Releases From Jeff Dingler, Sacha Boutros & More

by Mary Foster Conklin
December 29, 2025

This broadcast celebrates Winter Solstice with holiday music from Nicole Zuraitis, Darius de Haas, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Maud Hixson and new releases from Jeff Dingler and Sacha Boutros, plus birthday shoutouts to Edith Piaf, Susie Arioli, Jamile and Kerry Politzer, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy their music so ...

New Music From Politzer, Davis, West, Genovese & More

by Bob Osborne
December 25, 2025

This set moves through solo sketches, trio interplay, and full ensemble fire, tracing acoustic and electric textures across studio, live, and archival formats. It opens with flowing piano, moves into exploratory trio improvisation, and shifts between guitar meditations, reworked soul and rock standards, and tightly arranged ensemble writing. Abstract textures and ambient passages emerge mid-set, followed ...

Peter Lin AAPI Jazz Collective, Maria Kaushansky, Patrick Smith, Wayne Wilkinson

by Cheryl K.
December 22, 2025

During this week's two-hour program of jazz and improvised music, trombonist Peter Lin and the AAPI Jazz Collective; the Travis Jenkins Piano Trio; pianists Maria Kaushansky and Andrew Carroll; drummer Roy Brooks from 1963 and 1972; saxophonist Patrick Smith; and guitarists Louis Stewart (with pianist Jim Doherty), John Scofield (w/bassist Dave Holland), Charlie Byrd (featuring The ...

Red Garland, Samara Joy, Billy Hart, Mark Sherman & Marilyn Maye

by Joe Dimino
December 7, 2025

We step into the 935th episode of Neon Jazz with unmistakable class and pure showbiz magic courtesy of Kansas City's own vocal icon Marilyn Maye, shining brightly with “Time and Time Again" from the newly remastered 2024 album Interludes. She's gearing up for a heartfelt homecoming at the historic Folly Theater on December 21, 2025--a venue ...

Loren Schoenberg And His Jazz Orchestra, Lisa Hilton, Tomoko Omura, Lafayette Harris, Jr., Denise King, Kris Davis

by Mary Foster Conklin
December 1, 2025

This broadcast includes new releases from Loren Schoenberg And His Jazz Orchestra, Lisa Hilton, Tomoko Omura, Lafayette Harris, Jr., Denise King, Kris Davis, with birthday shoutouts to Sheila Jordan, Gloria Lynne, Hoagy Carmichael, Dr. John and Whitney Ross-Barris, among others plus more Grammy nominees. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy ...