Results for "piano"

Grace Leong Zhe Fui

Born: November 22

Grace Leong is a pianist with an usual story. An East Malaysian native with two brothers, she grew up fighting with them over the video gaming console. The rivalry promptly ended when she discovered the allure of the video game soundtracks. The riveting sound tracks captured her imagination and soon her fingers began to dance at the piano - an unexpected musical seed was planted. That seed was watered by a daily dose of Joe Pace’s “Shake The Foundation” gospel album, film scores, and world music, blossoming into a deep love affair with jazz. Suddenly, she found herself performing indie/pop rock music in hotels, on cruises, and in pubs around Asia, including Macau, Singapore, and Thailand

Toni Makhoul

With deep and expansive global sensibilities shaped by a unique blend of cultural influences growing up in Lebanon, multi-talented composer and instrumentalist Toni Makhoul is truly a musical citizen of the world. Drawing on a rich palette of styles ranging from pop, jazz and soul to Spanish, Latin, French and the exotic Arabic/Asian music of his Lebanese heritage, he stirs the heart with a sonic vision that begins with lush piano melodies and includes a wide array of instruments, including saxophone, percussion, guitar, bass, flute, harmonica, violin and accordion. He likens the art of creating instrumental music to the work of a visual artist, where a composition is like an abstract painting that tells new stories, evokes fresh emotions and takes the listener’s imagination different places without imposing specific images or “frames” around the story. Beyond the sheer melodic beauty, rhythmic power and blend of gentle, graceful reflections with high energy celebrations and “danceability,” Makhoul’s diverse music expresses his vision of a better world and an overriding message of hope and possibility

Jakub Rojek

Born: March 24, 1979

Pianist, guitarist, composer Jakub Rojek hails from Poland and currently resides in Chicago, IL. His professional career spans many diverse compositional and performance related projects including, among others, chamber compositions for piano duo, voice and piano, and most recently improvising trio with multi-­‐reedman Aaron Kruziki (Dapp Theory), and sound designer Shaun Sutkus (Perfect Pussy), to performances alongside jazz greats Dave Holland, Dave Douglas, Cecil McBee, and John Hollenbeck to name a few. Jakub has performed and premiered his pieces in many venues throughout the US including, most notably, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Lily Pad, New York’s Vanderbilt Hall, Chicago’s Chopin Theatre, Katerina’s, and Scholes Studio, Shrine, and Silvana in NYC, as well as recent premiers in concert halls in his native Poland

Jenny Maybee

Jenny Maybee is “equally talented as a vocalist and pianist.” Her “piano playing and vocals…are altogether eloquent and heart-stopping…her voicing is expertly balanced…and her phrasing sings wonderfully throughout the repertoire.” Her vocals have been described as “exquisite,” “hauntingly beautiful,” and “in the same league” with Billie Holiday—music that “you could close your eyes to and nod out blissfully in a deep groove…”

Her piano style has been compared to Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, and Cecil Taylor. Jenny “make(s) beautiful music expressing the sheer joy of being alive. You sense it in the augmented chords that Maybee plays on her piano, then leaping like a mad gazelle to catch its essence with her voice.” As a classically trained jazz pianist and vocalist, Jenny’s “unique style seems fairly sedate on the surface, but is capable of sudden intensity whenever the music demands.” This mixture of sensitivity and boldness weaves through her original compositions and interpretations of jazz standards.

Vince Hurley

Rogério Godinho

Born: August 28, 1976

Rogério Godinho is a multifaceted artist - pianist, singer and composer, studied at the University of Évora (Portugal), Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) and at the Hot Club of Portugal, and has in photography, filming and poetry other manifestations of his artistic universe, as a creator. He just published his first CD "ETERNO REGRESSO" (Eternal Return), with original music composed by himself, in which are reflected in his main influences: Jazz, Fado, Popular Brazilian Music, with many classical elements. It is a concept mostly intimate, where the words, image and music are inseparable.

Tim Pascoal Band

Tim Pascoal Pianist and Keyboardist, Tim Pascoal, started very early receiving classical training at the Lisbon Conservatory of Music, in Portugal. In his later teens, he switched interest towards Pop, Funk, Gospel and Jazz music. As he started to grow appreciation for other styles he pursued self education by transcribing and listening to wide variety of influential musicians, eventually he was a recipient of a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Tim earned a BA in Contemporary Writing and Production while studying with Jazz pianist and professor Joanne Brackeen

Seppe Gebruers

Born: May 9, 1990

Oblivious to traditional high-performance standards, Seppe Gebruers (1990) was never one to win the Tour de France. To that end he misses a solid training scheme and a sense of calculating opportunism. Instead, Gebruers is more of an attacker than one to dominate the entire race. Furthermore, he rather surrounds himself with a group of equal leading partners than a supporting team of helpers. Playing at half-force is not an option though, as anyone who has witnessed his physical playing style will testify. Each concert is a classic in its own right, not to be set against another hypothetical future ride

Virginio Aiello

Born: February 14, 1975

Born in Catanzaro in 1975, Virginio Aiello, pianist- accordionist-arranger, has a classical music education extraction began just six years with the accordion and the piano, and who converted later into a strong interest in improvised music. He graduated in Piano at the Conservatory of Music «S. Giacomantonio» (Cosenza) under the guide of M° A. Barbarossa and in Jazz Compositions of M° T. Tracanna and N. Pisani. He has won many competitions including the first prize at the Piano Competition "City of Castellaneta" and the second prize in the piano competitions "AMA Calabria" and "City of Terzo (AL)"

Vonda Shepard

Well, it’s 2016, and Vonda is back to writing again! Vonda and her band recently recorded the album, Rookie, for which they toured extensively in the U.K. and Germany, with some weekend dates in the States. Rookie is a title that bears no little irony, since this year marks 27 years since the release of her self- titled Warner Bros. debut. Thanks to the ongoing participation of producer/ maestro Mitchell Froom (of collaborative Elvis Costello, Crowded House, and Bonnie Raitt fame), Rookie is a thrilling, solid album, filled with both “Vintage Vonda” tracks, based in piano vocal ballads, as well as some über-funky grooves that Vonda felt a need to write, in order to really cut loose vocally