Results for "piano"

Paula Maya

Paula Maya is an award winning Brazilian pianist, keyboardist, singer, composer and recording artist, nominated Best Brazilian Musician living in the US. The official release of her eleventh album Mar da Minha Terra, Yellow House Records, is July 25th 2023.

Paula Maya has songs in several compilations with artists such as Jimmy Cliff. She holds a degree from the Brazilian Conservatory of Music in Rio de Janeiro. Her compositions have roots in Brazilian traditional rhythms and melodies, such as maracatú, baião and samba. They are also inspired and influenced by bossa nova, jazz, blues, Cuban music and African music. 

Giancarlo Tossani

Winner of the Italian Top Jazz 2006 (“Musica Jazz” Annual Critics Pool) as ” Italian Rising Star”, and well placed in more categories in subsequent years.Second and best placed in JazzIt Awards, Keyboard category, in the last years.His recordings as leader, with the band “Synapser”, are released by Auand label.More projects:– Opus Soup, a kind of open-space where musicians with different styles, cultures and backgrounds (jazz, hip hop, blues, pop, prog, contemporary music) come together.– co-founder with Enrico Merlin of Molester sMiles, dedicated to Miles Davis electric period.His last Cd as leader is “Newswok” featuring the NY trumpet player Ralph Alessi.He played with several musicians and in festivals and clubs (included the Blue Note in NYC)His last, solo, album is “Strange Spy”, 2019.

Adrianne Duncan

Born: August 9

Pianist, singer, composer and songwriter Adrianne Duncan has been making music since the age of six. The daughter of renowned classical guitarist and Clark Atlanta University professor Charles Duncan (author of The Art of Classical Guitar Playing), she honed her classical piano skills through summers spent at Tanglewood and Brevard Music Centers, master classes with such luminaries as Leon Fleisher, Ruth Laredo, Murray Perahia and André Watts, and four years as the pianist for the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Jere Flint. She attended Northwestern University on a music scholarship and is the winner of numerous piano competitions and scholarships.

Sean Michael Giddings

Sean Giddings is a pianist, guitarist, composer, and record producer. Born and raised in Kansas City, Sean now resides in Austin, Texas. He currently tours with both Christopher Cross and Pat Green. He has also toured and performed with Eric Johnson, Alejandro Escovedo, Cory Morrow, Wade Bowen, Mary Wilson, and the BoDeans. As a studio musician, Sean has been on recordings with Tanya Tucker, Kris Kristofferson, Houndmouth, Brad Cook, Donald Fagen, John Forté, Josh Abbott, and Whiskey Myers. Sean’s piano playing can be heard on Daniel Hart’s film score for “The Old Man and the Gun” starring Robert Redford

Fifth Element

Active since: 2016

In classical thought, the four elements are earth, water, air and fire. The fifth element, quintessence or spirit, is captured in the music we love to play. A jazz quintet featuring Ron Johnston, Jack Gelbloom, Glenn Anderson, Kurt Lund and Nina Richmond.

Mike Levine

Yotam Ishay

Born: 1990

Grammy-nominated composer, pianist, bandleader, and educator whose work moves fluidly between jazz, classical, and global traditions. Born in Israel and based in Brooklyn, his music is shaped by impressionistic harmony, Mediterranean rhythm, and deep improvisational practice.

His composition "Reminiscing" from debut album Opus 1 was featured in Netflix productions, and his solo piano album SEED received international acclaim from Japan's JAZZ LIFE and France's Djolo. His latest release, Singing of the Herbs(2025), continues his exploration of melody, texture, and cross-cultural musical dialogue. He has been recognized as a three-time finalist in the International Antonín Dvořák Composition Competition and received a Grammy nomination for his work with the Berklee Indian Ensemble on Shuruaat.

Jeffrey Morgan

Born: March 20, 1954

Jeffrey Morgan was born in the U.S.A. in 1954. He started playing violin when he was 10 and later integrated into a youth orchestra. At 19 he was inspired by The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra and picked up the saxophone, trumpet, clarinet and started playing the piano as well. During his university studies he organized a Freeform Music Workshop in 1975. A year later he attended the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY, and studied under Karl Berger, Oliver Lake and participated in workshops with Don Cherry. In 1976 he created his first compositional work for music and dance – Distress Mistress, and performed his first ensemble work, The Delirium Dimension. He also met saxophone player Bert Wilson and began a very productive collaborative musical friendship. In 1977 he created his first multi-media interdisciplinary work – Galactic Visions, a composition for music, dance, slide projectors, costumes, and light design. Morgan graduated from The Evergreen State College in 1977 with a Bachelor of the Arts degree: Studies were focused on the performing arts, e.g., music and experimental theater; and Eastern philosophy and Native American culture. In 1983 he released his first documented solo and ensemble works, "Quasar Mach", on LP. In 1984, along with Paul Hoskin, he co-founded the New Art Orchestra in Seattle, Washington. In 1987, Morgan moved to Birmingham, Alabama and worked with dancers Mary Horn and Susan Hefner; he also started an ongoing collaboration with LaDonna Smith. In 1988 he made his first pilgrimage to Europe in search of greener pastures and has since played with dozens of notable improvisors including Alan Silva, Keith Rowe, Peter Kowald, Paul Lytton and Xu Feng Xia just to name a few. From 1991 to 1996 he organized the Drang in Klang festival for experimental and improvised music, and in 1994 he established another open-door workshop for Conceptual Composition and Improvisation in Cologne, which led to invitations to lead other workshops in Bielefeld, Hamburg, Lisbon, Leeds and Wuppertal. He currently resides in Cologne, Germany.

Cathy DeWitt

Born: October 4

Cathy DeWitt was destined to be a musician, and playing jazz is in her blood. Before she was born her father Bruce led his own band in New Orleans, regularly opening for Louis Armstrong at Pete Fountain's place. At a very early age music filled her house, from her father's Dixieland trumpet and stride piano to the Rachmaninoff and Chopin pieces her brother Peter, a prodigy pianist, rehearsed every day on the grand piano in the living room. As the family gathered to watch the television variety shows of the 60s, she heard all the famous singers interpreting the great songbook of jazz and show tunes, and she never forgot the lyrics to many of those songs. After honing her harmonic skills as a member of the University of Florida Choir and Willis Bodine's Chamber Singers, Cathy met and began performing with jazz guitarist Charlie Bush

Endemic Ensemble

Active since: 2010

In 2010, Seattle bassist Steve Messick started a new jazz project with the goals of writing forms and melodies in the styles of post-bop and big band, but also pulling inspiration from neoclassical works. This project became the Endemic Ensemble, and the jazz quintet debuted in the spring of 2010 with Messick on double bass, Travis Ranney on tenor and soprano saxophones, Matso Limtiaco on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet, David Franklin on piano, and Ken French on drums.

In 2012, the Endemic Ensemble released their first full-length album, Lunar, which made Lucid Culture's “The 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2012.” Drummer Christian Krehbiel joined the band in 2014, and in 2016 the Endemic Ensemble released their second full-length album, Tangled.