Results for "piano"

George Gruntz

Born: June 24, 1932

George Gruntz was a Swiss jazz pianist, organist, harpsichordist, keyboardist and composer known for the George Gruntz Concert Big Band, and his work with artists such as Phil Woods, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin and Mel Lewis. Gruntz, who was born in Basle, Switzerland, was also an accomplished arranger and composer, having been commissioned by many orchestras and symphonies. From 1972 to 1994 he served as artistic director for the JazzFest Berlin.

Don Grolnick

Born: September 23, 1947

Don Grolnick was a subtle and rather underrated pianist throughout his career, but his flexibility and talents were well known to his fellow musicians. Grolnick played in rock bands while a teenager but was always interested in jazz. He worked in the early fusion group Dreams (1969-1971), the Brecker Brothers (starting in 1975), and in the early '80s with Steps Ahead. He has long been a busy session musician often utilized by pop singers. In the 1980s, Grolnick appeared in many settings including with Joe Farrell, George Benson, Peter Erskine, David Sanborn, John Scofield, Mike Stern and the Bob Mintzer big band

Benny Green

Born: April 4, 1963

Born in New York in 1963, Benny Green grew up in Berkeley, California, and began classical piano studies at the age of seven. Influenced by his father, a tenor saxophonist, his attention soon turned into Jazz: "I began trying to improvise on the piano, imitating the records I'd been hearing from my father's collection, which included a lot of Monk and Bird… it was a gradual process of teaching myself". Benny played in school bands before hooking up with Jazz singer Fay Carroll: "That was good training for me in terms of accompaniment and learning about the blues, and she also gave me a chance to play trio, opening for her every night." As a teenager he worked with Eddie Henderson, and got some big band experience with a 12-piece group led by Chuck Israels

Henry Gray

Born: January 19, 1925

Henry Gray - Blues Pianist, vocalist Henry Gray built a Hall Of Fame Chicago blues pedigree during the 40-plus years between his 1946 arrival in the Windy City after military service and his 1969 move to Baton Rouge. In Chicago he became best known for his extended stay with the Howlin' Wolf band. Henry is still at the top of his game as a standard-setting pianist, a singer and songwriter of conviction and a consummate, inspiring ensemble player. Soon after arriving in Chicago in 1946, Henry began frequenting the clubs and joints checking out the piano players and measuring his skills and talents with theirs

Darrell Grant

Born: May 30, 1962

Darrell Grant has risen from the pianist in vocalist Betty Carter’s trio to an internationally-recognized performer, composer, and educator who channels the power of music to foster community, sustainability, and social justice. Having performed with jazz luminaries including Frank Morgan, Tony Williams, Brian Blade, Esperanza Spalding, and Nicholas Payton, he followed his 1994 New York Times Top 10 Jazz Album Black Art with seven albums receiving critical acclaim from The Village Voice and DownBeat Magazine. He has toured as a bandleader and solo artist throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe as well as in Turkey and Japan in venues from Paris’s La Villa jazz club to the Havana Jazz Festival. Dedicated to themes of hope, community, and place, Grant’s compositions include his 2012 Step by Step: The Ruby Bridges Suite honoring the civil rights icon

Eric Gould

While his first three CD’s have met with success, and have enabled him to make a mark on the national jazz scene, these are but the latest moves in a 25-year career for pianist, composer, and arranger Eric Gould. As a bandleader, he has shared the stage with some of jazz’s brightest stars, opening for Earl Klugh, Azymuth, Larry Coryell, Wayne Shorter, and the New York Jazz All-Stars, and performing on television with Louie Bellson and James Moody. He has performed and recorded in collaboration with world-renowned instrumentalists such as Jimmy Heath, Ron Carter, James Newton, Bobby Watson, Antonio Hart, Winard Harper, Cindy Blackman, Vanessa Rubin, Cecil Bridgewater, Talib Kibwe (T.K

Rubén González

Born: May 26, 1919

The young Rubén González was an accomplished classical pianist and in his youth was planning to become a doctor. In 1941 he gave up his studies of classical music and medicine to begin his professional career playing dance music, playing with most of the major orchestras in Cuba. He began his recording career in 1943 with the pioneering bandleader Arsenio Rodríguez, who would help revolutionize the sound of Cuban music. Rubén said that he approached the piano not as an accompanying instrument but one that also ‘leads’, whilst still maintaining the rhythm. Arsenio became a major influence on Rubén’s playing style and his outlook on life, giving him some invaluable advice that he has always tried to follow

Lloyd Glenn

Born: November 21, 1909

Lloyd Glenn - Blues pianist, arranger (1909 - 1985) A talented pianist and musical arranger, Lloyd Glenn was less renowned for his own fine recordings as for his peerless work on those by other musicians; particularly the Midas touch he contributed to the production and accompaniment of blues guitarists like T-Bone Walker, Lowell Fulson, Gene Phillips, Gatemouth Brown and B B King. Born in San Antonio, Texas, on 21st November 1909, Lloyd Glenn grew up listening to close relatives and family friends playing ragtime, blues and boogie woogie on the family piano. By his early teens he had absorbed a lot of music and playing piano became second nature to him

Ted Gioia

ed Gioia is a musician and author, and has published eight non-fiction books, most recently the bestselling The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire, published by Oxford University Press in July 2012. His The History of Jazz was selected as one of the twenty best books of the year by Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post, and was chosen as a notable book of the year in The New York Times. Gioia’s 2008 book Delta Blues, published by W.W. Norton, was also selected by The New York Times as one of the 100 most notable of the year, and was picked as one of the best books of the year by The Economist. Gioia has been called "one of the outstanding music historians in America" by the Dallas Morning News

Joe Gilman

Dr. Joe Gilman is the music director of the Brubeck Institute's Fellowship Program, a full-time professor of music at American River College in Sacramento, and music director of Capital Jazz Project. He has received bachelor's degrees in classical piano and jazz studies at Indiana University, a master's degree in jazz and the contemporary media from the Eastman School of Music, and a doctoral degree in education from the University of Sarasota.

Joe has been the primary pianist with jazz vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson since September 2006, and has also performed professionally with Eddie Harris, Woody Shaw, Marlena Shaw, Richie Cole, Joe Locke, George Duke, Chris Botti, Eric Alexander, David "Fathead" Newman, and Slide Hampton, and has recorded with Joe Henderson, Jeff Watts, and Robert Hurst.