Results for "piano"

Max Leake

Born: February 18, 1958

Max Leake began his musical training at age six. By the time he was 15, he was working with local Pittsburgh bands and backing up national acts in local supper clubs. At the age of 18, Max was traveling around the country with acts such as the "Ink Spots" and the "Marcels". Max spent time playing in show-bands in the Catskill Mountains of New York backing up variety acts, comedians and singers. He also cruised around the Western hemisphere as house pianist in the showbands on many different Princess Cruise ships. In 1985 he released his self-produced album "Buns in the Sun" on Visionary Records, a record label started by Max and Mike Hurzon (owner of the "Tracking Station", an independent record promotion company)

Art Hirahara

Born: February, 1971

Art Hirahara is a jazz keyboardist and composer based in New York, NY. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Art moved to New York in 2003 to be challenged by its pool of world-class musicians. Here he has honed his craft, performing in a wide range of musical situations ranging from straight ahead standards to time cycle-based progressive jazz to free improvisation. From the traditional to the avant-garde, Art has found a sound of his own that cuts across genres and boundaries. Art began his training in music at the age of four, studying with Sue Shannon, an unconventional classical piano teacher who taught improvisation and composition from the earliest stages of musical development

Carlos Semilla

Alexandra Caselli

Alexandra began classical training on the piano at the age of 6. She received a B.A. degree in liberal arts (Plan II) from the University of Texas at Austin and went on to study music as a graduate student at North Texas State University in Denton. She began her career as a professional musician in South Lake Tahoe leading a trio in a weekly after-hours session where casino showroom players would come to sit in. Since that time Ms. Caselli played in a wide variety of situations in the Reno-Tahoe area ranging from solo piano bar to Top-40 groups and big bands. She played piano with the Tahoe Mini-Philharmonic Orchestra at Caesar’s featuring 2 pianos on Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals”. As part of the John Carlton Orchestra she backed up name artists in the Harrah’s Reno showroom including Rich Little, Bobby Vinton, Charo and Debbie Reynolds. Alexandra was synthesizer player for the Reno-Hilton revue “Branded” and pianist for the Harrah’s Tahoe Ice Show featuring Scott Hamilton and “Tai and Randy.” She also played in the major casinos as part of a duo performing all types of music- it was during that time she started singing background vocals and developed sequencing skills on the computer. Alexandra has been successfully freelancing in the Los Angeles area since 1991.

Clinton Parsons

Born: August 16, 1974

Marc Cary

Marc Cary stands on an unshakable reputation as pianist dedicated to the craft. His fresh styling shows his expansive vocabulary. Cary's earnest orientation towards jazz, where much of his musical foundation lies, proves that he has internalized the idiom. Take his seminal masterwork, Rhodes Ahead Vol 1., released in 2000, is considered by many to be a classic; the Fender Rhodes-laden record signifies 70s free jazz, where the electric piano was oft-times the sonic weapon of choice. This time around, Cary is going retro and returning to a full acoustic setting. With the FOCUS Trio, featuring Samir Gupta on tabla and drums and David Ewell on bass, Cary's current vision is to bring together East Indian, West African and Native America musical traditions together in an all acoustic setting and blending it into African-American musical culture: jazz

Jerry Engelbach

Born: December 20, 1943

When I was 15, an accordianist friend showed me the meaning of those little letter-and-number symbols above the staff, and I subsequently discovered that I was able to play tunes without having to actually read music.

Since then, playing jazz affords me more enjoyment than anything else in life. That says a lot, as I've studied art at Cooper Union, classical music theory with Peter Schickele at Juilliard (one term), poetry at The New School, and acting at various places, and I've been an art gallery owner, toy company executive, actor and musical director for the Classic Stage Company, founder and artistic director of the Soho Repertory Theatre in New York, instructor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and a graphic designer with many blue-chip clients. And I learned to fly a plane, I ski in the winter, and I play tennis every week.

Eben Lichtman

Born: October 31, 1983

Aruán Ortiz

Born: August 22, 1973

Pianist, violist, and composer Aruán Ortiz – born in Santiago de Cuba, and resident of Brooklyn – has been an active figure in the progressive jazz and avant-garde scene in the US for more than 15 years.

Named “one of the most creative and original composers in the world” (Lynn René Bayley, The Art Music Lounge), he has written music for jazz ensembles, orchestras, dance companies, chamber groups, and feature films, incorporating influences from contemporary classical music, Cuban Haitian rhythms, and avant-garde improvisation. Aruán consistently strives to break stylistic musical boundaries.

Giorgio Occhipinti

Born: June 12, 1969

Pianist and composer, was born in Ragusa in June 1969. Since he was a little child he devoted himself to the study of the piano and he played the drum and the transverse flute in a band. He also played togheter with his father (a trumpet player). In October 1989 he took part in the Festival Jazz of Paris within the "International competition for Piano jazz" dedicated to Martial Solal. He worked togheter with the actress Lidya Alfonsi, and he composed the sound basis of some of her recitals. He took part in one of the historical sicilian jazz groups: the December Thirty Jazz Trio, founded in 1989 togheter with the double bass player Giuseppe Guarrella and the drummer Francesco Branciamore