Results for "piano"

Nancy Walker

Nancy Walker Biography

Pianist and composer Nancy Walker has been recognized with honours Canada-wide, including the Montréal Jazz Festival’s Grand Prix de Jazz, the National Jazz Awards Keyboardist Of The Year Award, a JUNO nomination for Instrumental Album Of The Year, and an induction into the Mississauga Music Walk Of Fame. A dynamic improviser, an artful composer and a responsive accompanist, Nancy has been praised both for her work as a solo artist and as a musical collaborator. As a side player she can be heard on a wide range of recordings, by artists from saxophonist Kirk MacDonald to vocalist Emilie-Claire Barlow to children’s entertainer Raffi. More recently she can be heard on the 2024 recording Here’s To Life by John Neudorf (on which she was both pianist and co-producer), and Sarah Jerrom’s 2025 JUNO-nominated Magpie.

Ben Schwendener

Pianist Ben Schwendener sustains a unique voice in contemporary creative music and natural pedagogy, and is a leading authority on George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization. As a critically acclaimed pianist/composer, he has created music for dance companies, film, commercials and art installations. He has also written many volumes of children’s piano music, and toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan with his ensembles and on solo piano. His music can be heard on Label Bleu, Gravity Records and Alabaster. Ben was an Editorial Assistant to the late George Russell

Rebeca Mauleon

Rebeca Mauleón is an internationally acclaimed musician, bandleader, composer, GRAMMY-nominated producer and educator as well as author and reviewer. As a pianist Mauleon follows a long-standing tradition of Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz performers, and her expertise in Afro-Caribbean and Latin American music places her at the forefront of the musicological community, resulting in a multidimensional career spanning over three decades. From her recording and performing work with an array of Grammy-winning legends including Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, Steve Winwood, Joe Henderson and Mickey Hart, to her diverse compositional projects (ranging from symphonic works and Afro-Cuban jazz to music for film, television and computer software companies), and her critically-acclaimed recordings, books and articles, Mauleon has carved a distinct niche as one of the most multi-faceted artists on the world music scene. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Salsa Guidebook and 101 Montunos, and is also musicological consultant and author to National Geographic, Time Life and other important institutions

Aleksandar Pejovski

Born: 1979

ALEKSANDAR PEJOVSKI (born 1979) is an awarded music composer from Skopje, Macedonia. His works have been performed internationally. He composes music for TV, Film and Theatre. Pejovski graduated theory at Faculty of Music Arts [2004]. He studied harmonic basics of jazz and arranging with Ilija Pejovski, and classical composition with prof. Tomislav Zografski. His work includes: cello concerto, three pieces for symphonic orchestra, one for large wind orchestra, and more than ten original compositions and arrangements for Big Band orchestra as well. Aleksandar Pejovski won the first price for original composition [People] at the Barga Jazz Festival '04 in Italy. His first album "Haiku" [2005] was promoted at the MC Gallery, New York. In 2006 his composition "Haicube 575" was elected in the final 7 out of 86 participants at the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra international composition competition in Tokyo, Japan. Most of Pejovski's works have been performed in Macedonia, Italy, Croatia, Germany, USA, Japan.

Bill Dobbins

Bill Dobbins teaches courses in jazz composing and arranging, gives applied lessons to jazz writing majors, and directs the Eastman Jazz Ensemble and the Eastman Studio Orchestra. As a pianist he has performed with classical orchestras and chamber ensembles under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Lukas Foss, and Louis Lane, and has performed and recorded with such jazz artists as Clark Terry, Al Cohn, Red Mitchell, Phil Woods, Bill Goodwin, Dave Liebman, Kevin Mahogany, Paquito D’Rivera, Peter Erskine, and John Goldsby. He was a prizewinner in the 1972 International Gaudeamus Competition for interpreters of contemporary music, and has been the recipient of several jazz composition grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts

Grant Levin

Bryn Roberts

Bryn Roberts is pianist, keyboardist and composer who is in demand in a wide variety of musical contexts. He has performed, toured and recorded extensively both as a leader and sideman, and is a mainstay at NYC jazz clubs like Smalls, Mezzrow, The Jazz Gallery, the 55 bar and Dizzy's. An acclaimed composer and bandleader, Roberts has four albums out featuring his own music: his debut “Present Tense”, “Ludlow” (featuring Seamus Blake, Drew Gress and Mark Ferber), “Fables” (featuring Seamus Blake, Orlando le Fleming and Johnathan Blake) and his most recent release, a duo album with guitarist Lage Lund called “Nightsong”

JC Hopkins

Grammy-nominated JC Hopkins has become a staple in the jazz music scene in New York City with his influence extending throughout the world. Featuring the top talent in today’s new movement in jazz, he and his “JC Hopkins Biggish Band” have performed with and accompanied a wide range of innovative vocalists including Norah Jones, Tony Bennett, Jon Hendricks, Andy Bey, Johnny O’Neal, Elvis Costello, Mose Allison, Madeleine Peyroux, Jazzmeia Horn and Martha Wainwright. His exuberant music is directed by many genres including jazz, swing, bebop, and the Great American Songbook. Described as a modern day Hoagy Carmichael, acclaimed singers such as Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, and Victoria Williams have covered his songs

Andrea Keller

Born: July 27, 1973

Andrea Keller is an Australian pianist, composer and improviser. She is an active member of Australia’s contemporary creative jazz community through multiple roles as performer, composer, arranger, recording artist, researcher, educator, mentor, and curator. Over the past two-decades she has devised and produced a large and varied body of work, confirming her dedication to the performance, creation, and nurturing of contemporary jazz and improvised music. Steeped in both jazz and Western art music traditions, her projects celebrate the wealth and diversity of Australian musicians and are centred on the creation of new music with an emphasis on improvisation and collaboration.

Bernardo Sassetti

Born: June 24, 1970

Bernardo da Costa Sassetti Pais was a Portuguese jazz pianist and film composer.

Sassetti was born in Lisbon. He was a great-grandson of Sidónio Pais, President of the First Republic. He initially played guitar, then began studying piano and music theory at age nine. He became interested in jazz after hearing Bill Evans. He studied jazz with Horace Parlan and Sir Roland Hanna.

By the late 1980s, he was backing visiting musicians and teaching jazz piano in Lisbon (and, later, taught throughout other lusophonic areas). During the 1990s, he worked in London, where he recorded three albums with Guy Barker's group. Anthony Minghella invited them to appear as the Napoli Jazz Sextet in The Talented Mr. Ripley.