Results for "piano"

Kathryn Ballard Shut

Born: November 9

KATHRYN BALLARD SHUT (pronounced /shoot/) is an accomplished jazz pianist and vocalist, living and working in the Denver, Colorado live music scene, and grew up surrounded by both music lovers and working musicians. Classically trained on the piano beginning at age 8, reeds at age 10, and incorporating jazz theory by age 14, Kathryn has served as both pianist and woodwind "doubler" in big bands (clarinet/flute/saxes) and small combos (piano and vocals), including several jazz orchestras within The Colorado Jazz Workshop under the leadership of Hugh Ragin. She is also the daughter of the late Kansas Music Hall of Fame honoree, jazz and soul legend Tim Ballard. 

Gwilym Simcock

Born: February 24, 1981

Gwilym Simcock has carved out a career as one of the most gifted pianists and imaginative composers on the European scene. He moves effortlessly between jazz and classical music, with a ‘harmonic sophistication and subtle dovetailing of musical traditions’. Gwilym has been hailed as a pianist of ‘exceptional’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘dazzling’ ability, and his music has been widely acclaimed as ‘engaging, exciting, often unexpected, melodically enthralling, complex yet hugely accessible’, and above all ‘wonderfully optimistic’. Gwilym’s influences are wide ranging, from jazz legends including Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius and Pat Metheny, to classical composers including Maurice Ravel, Henri Dutilleux, Béla Bartók and Mark-Anthony Turnage

Michael B.

Born: August 20, 1942

Michael was born in Columbus, Ohio and at the age of three his family moved to San Diego, California where he would start his musical career. At the age of five, Michael's parents purchased a spinet piano for his birthday. And, within a few months, he was learning to play the piano from recordings. Much to his father's chagrin, he gravitated toward the blues and boogie. By the time he was six, he had actually learned how to play a little of each. This however, appalled his Italian father, who had aspirations for his son to become a classical pianist. Michael's grandfather was from the "old country" and the family listened to opera and great classical pianists every Sunday at the family dinner

Martin Lutz

Born: September 16, 1974

Martin Lutz (b. 1974) is a versatile composer. So far his work has contained both classical and popular music. He has written works for numerous choirs in neoromantic style inspired by mostly nordic composers such as Niels La Cour, Bo Holten, Per Skriver and Javier Busto.

Furthermore he works as a jazzmusician, -composer and - arranger in a number of groups - for example in his own sixtet (Martin Lutz Group) or in duo/trio/quartet. All the mentioned ensembles play Lutz’ own compositions which show roots in american souljazz, african jazz (Martin Lutz has a close relationship to the african tone as a result of his childhood and youth in southern and eastern Africa) and the more lyrical nordic tone

Julian Waterfall Pollack

Born: June 28, 1988

At the age of twenty-one, New York Pianist Julian Waterfall Pollack has the jazz community abuzz with his mature, technically ferocious, and dynamic piano playing. A classically trained pianist, Pollack has unleashed into the world a singular blend of music that combines his love for today’s popular music styles and a respect for the classical tradition. On his aptly-titled debut recording, Goin’ For It (Jazzschool Records, 2006) San Jose Mercury News critic Andrew Gilbert writes: “Pollack may have started Goin’ For It as a student, but with the completion of his first album, he has earned the right to teach some lessons of his own.” The opening tracks “Take Me Outside” and “Valeria” may well be a contrast in style, but they are more clearly an indication of his compositional breadth

Ben Paterson

Born: June 23, 1982

Originally from Philadelphia, Ben spent his younger years studying both classical and jazz music before moving to the great city of Chicago. There he spent years performing and working with the best musicians in town, absorbing the unique blend of Jazz and Blues that can only be found in the Windy City. Now, moving to New York, Ben is poised to bring his unique talents and style to a wider audience, combining hard-swinging grooves and melodic improvisation with an impeccable touch.

Starting in 2005, Ben was honored to work as pianist for NEA jazz master Von Freeman, performing with him regularly until Von’s passing in August 2012. In addition to regular club dates around town, Ben’s work with Von included performances at the Chicago Jazz Fest, Symphony Center, Millenium Park, The Jazz Showcase, and The Green Mill.

Courtney Bryan

Courtney Bryan, a native of New Orleans, La, is a prolific and eclectic composer, pianist, and arranger. Her compositions range from solo works to large ensembles in the jazz and new music idioms, film scores, and collaborations of dancers, visual artists, writers, and actors. She performs around the New York area, and is the organist and director of the Institute for Sacred Music at Bethany Baptist Church of Newark, NJ. Courtney has academic degrees from Oberlin Conservatory '04 (BM), Rutgers University '07 (MM), and Columbia University '09 (MA). Currently, Courtney is an Instructor at Columbia University of New York while pursuing a DMA in music composition

Luke Rackers

Born: October 28, 1985

I was born in Jefferson City, MO and moved to Colorado at age 18. I studied jazz under Eric Gunnison for two years at the University of Denver. I now attend Goddard College where I'm studying composition and the relationship between music and social justice/human rights issues and am living in northern Colorado. I have studied both jazz and classical music but hesitate to use either of these two descriptors for myself. Rather, I call myself a pianist, composer, enthusiast, friend, and lover of life. I feel that music can bring peace to people's lives, and has the power to change lives and change the world

Terry Disley

Born: October 20, 1956

Terry Disley was born in London. He studied Piano and theory of music at the Salterton School of Music from the age of 9-18. He studied piano for 12 years studying classical repertoire, as well as jazz, composition, harmony and arranging for 10 years. In 1982 Terry and his group Macondo received the award for Best Jazz Musician’s of the year from the Greater London Arts Association. He started composing at age 11 and by 13 was writing for his own electric/acoustic chamber group. Terry has gone on to write for a multitude of ensembles. Including string quartets, electronic contemporary dance music, jazz big band, ambient new age music and contemporary pop songs. In 1997 he composed the music for the motion picture ‘Monument Avenue’, a Ted Demme film which premiered at the Sundance film festival. He also wrote 2 compositions for the Grammy Award nominated “Back on the Case” album by British new age jazz group Acoustic Alchemy, with whom he toured and recorded for six years

John Smith

Born: February 5, 1960

Jazz Music