Results for "piano"

Jane Getz

Larry Gelb

Coming soon.

Mike Garson

From Bach to Bowie, east coast to west coast, piano keyboards to computer keyboards, Mike has worked to make the world a more creative, compassionate and compelling place. He remains a man of many talents and limitless inspiration. No artistic medium is off-limits to this avant-garde individual to whom the word "no" is quickly - and seemingly effortlessly - transformed into the word "now." Best known for his impressive skills as a pianist, he is a respected composer and a budding computer artist. Embracing the idea of the "Renaissance Man," Mike continually experiments with new ways through which he can communicate his humanistic ideals. Mike's story begins at the age of seven, when he began to study the classics

Michael Garrick

Born: May 30, 1933

Michael Garrick's adolescent love affair with jazz is a tale shared by much of middle class England in the post-war years, when national service was often the only means to have this affair requited. Swing and boogie-woogie held a "magnetic attraction, but I had no means of getting near it," he says; Pine Top Smith and Meade Lux Lewis (he will still rattle off Honky Tonk Train Blues if you let him), Lionel Hampton and Harry James, whose music "thrilled me to death," all crossed his path leaving indelible stains on his youthful psyche. He had fallen for the siren's song, did not know what jazz was, but knew that he wanted to play it. To this day he is rather proud of the fact that he was expelled from Eleanor B. Franklin-Pike's piano lessons for inflicting Glenn Miller's In the Mood upon fellow pupils at a musical soiree; but more seriously his parents disapproved of such high spirits and tried to put him off. In deference to this musical apartheid both at home and within the educational establishment, Garrick was adroit enough to sidestep the issue by not studying music at university, where musical faculties displayed the sign "bebop not spoken here." Yet his ambition to become a dance band pianist, or even better to play jazz, was undiminished, and to this end he practised his arpeggios, put himself through grade eight exams after national service, and embarked on a degree in English literature at University College, London.

Erroll Garner

Born: June 15, 1921

Born in Pittsburgh in 1921 (Sy Johnson's biographical note in The Erroll Garner Songbook has June 15, 1923 as Garner's birthdate), Errol Garner started playing piano at the age of two (three according to Johnson). He never learned to read music, probably because it was never a necessity for him. He learned to play the 'novelty' styles of Zez Confrey and others from listening to 78 records, a style which used steady left hand chord rhythms to support very free right-hand melodic interpretations. This provided a perfect basis for the hard-swinging jazz style that Garner was to pioneer. At the age of seven, Garner began appearing on radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh with a group called the Candy Kids, and by the age of eleven he was playing on the Allegheny riverboats

Laszlo Gardony

Internationally acclaimed Boston-based jazz pianist and composer Laszlo Gardony is one of the most expressive and technically skilled pianists working in jazz today. “A formidable improviser who lives in the moment" (JazzTimes), Gardony has performed in 27 countries and released 14 albums: ten albums on the Sunnyside label, two on Antilles, and one on Avenue Jazz during his distinguished, decades-long career. Winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Gardony has been noted for his "fluid pianism" by The New York Times. The legendary Dave Brubeck called him "a great pianist."

Red Garland

Born: May 13, 1923

Largely self-taught, Red Garland established a reputation as a solid post-bop mainstream player in the 50s, playing with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time. He achieved international fame in the late 50s as part of the Miles Davis quintet. He went on to lead his own groups, but then retired in 1968, a victim the declining demand for jazz. He reemerged in 1976 and performed regularly until his death in 1984. Garland was known for his eloquent middle-of-the-road style. A fertile, often moving improvisor, he developed a characteristic block chord sound by combining octaves with a fifth in the middle in the right hand over left-hand comp (accompanying) chords

Jeff Gardner

Jeff Gardner was born in New York and moved to Brasil in 2002. After classical piano lessons with Ruth Schontal and Ivan Tcherepnin he studied jazz with Jaki Byard, Charles Banacos, Don Friedman, and John Lewis, and harmony with Nadia Boulanger. He has performed with such musicians as Kenny Wheeler, Gary Peacock, Norma Winstone, Eddie Harris, Steve Lacy, Freddie Hubbard, Bob Sheppard, Rick Margitza, Nelson Veras, Dominique di Piazza, Paulo Moura, Lisa Ono, Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Victor Assis Brasil, Dori Caymmi, Karim Ziad, Sheila Jordan, Ron McClure, Drew Gress, Ndugu Chancler, Dave Carpenter, Charlie Mariano, André Ceccarelli, Riccardo del Fra, Hein van de Geyn, Lars Daniellson, Guillermo Anderson, and the piano quartet with Jaki Byard, Martial Solal, and Paul Bley. He has performed as a solo artist or as a leader at: Nice Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, San Rafael Festival, Maison de la Radio France, Jazz D'Or Festival, New Morning, October Jazz Festival in Saint Lucia, German National Radio (Berlin), Jazz a la Plantation Festival and CMAC in Martinique, Centre des Arts (Guadeloupe), Groningen Jazz Days, Bimhuis, Madajazzcar Festival, Lille World Jazz Festival, Birdseye, etc

Vyacheslav Ganelin

Born: December 17, 1944

Vyacheslav Ganelin was born in Moscow in 1944. He graduated in 1968 from the State Conservatory Vilnius/Lithuania where he then taught composition; he subsequently became Music Director of the Vilnius Russian Drama Theatre. In 1971 he had founded the "Ganelin Trio" (with V. Chekassin and V. Tarasov) which toured most European countries durings the ‘70s and the '80s, and had an extraordinary success worldwide. In 1987 he left Lithuania and emmigrated to Israel. In 1999 he founded the new GANELIN TRIO PRIORITY. Vyacheslav Ganelin has written compositions for symphonic orchestra, theater, chamber music, vocal ensembles, jazz big-band, two operas, three pieces for ballet and the sound tracks for more than 30 films.

Cecil Gant

Born: April 4, 1913

Cecil Gant jumped into the R & B world's consciousness during a war bond rally in downtown Los Angeles in 1944. The 29 year old pianist / singer made a great impression on many in the audience that day and so he was soon in a makeshift recording studio for the small independent Gilt Edge label. The first record released was "I Wonder" / "Cecil's Boogie" on Gilt Edge billed as "The G.I. Sing-sation". Using hidden neighborhood pressing plants and black market supplies of shellac, the record got out on the streets and sold briskly. Gant tried to follow up his huge success with further recordings and he made sporadic personal appearances in the Los Angeles area during these years and while continuing to try and dent the hit charts with further sessions for Gilt Edge