Jazz pianist Kenny Barron's website features sound bites, reviews, activities, bio, photo gallery, etc ...
Kenny Barron's unmatched ability to mesmerize audiences with his elegant playing, sensitive melodies and infectious rhythms is what inspired the Los Angeles Times to name him "one of the top jazz pianists in the world" and Jazz Weekly to call him "The most lyrical piano player of our time."
Pianist David Hazeltine's website features reviews, sound bites, itinerary, biography, cds.
David Hazeltine is one of a handful of young pianists who has successfully forged his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the accumulated greatness and weight of a modern piano tradition. David's influences extend from Art Tatum and Bud Powell to such great living masters as Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton.
David made his professional debut at age thirteen in Milwaukee, and later worked extensively in and around Chicago and Minneapolis. In Milwaukee, David served as house pianist at the famed Milwaukee Jazz Gallery, working with such greats as Charles McPherson, Eddie Harris, Sonny Stitt, Pepper Adams and Chet Baker. In fact, it was Baker who encouraged David to make his mark in New York City.
Since moving to New York City in 1992, David has made a name for himself as a "musician's musician." In addition to his working trio (with drum legend Louis Hayes and bassist Peter Washington), David is in constant demand as a sideman. Recent credits include work with Freddie Hubbard, James Moody, the Faddis-Hampton-Heath Sextet, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Louis Hayes Quintet, and Marlena Shaw, for whom he serves as pianist, arranger, and musical director. Recently David was spotlighted on Marian McPartland's "Piano Jazz" radio program. David is also a member of the band "One For All" which features rising tenor star Eric Alexander ...
Jazz pianist Kenny Barron's website features sound bites, reviews, activities, bio, photo gallery, etc ...
Kenny Barron's unmatched ability to mesmerize audiences with his elegant playing, sensitive melodies and infectious rhythms is what inspired the Los Angeles Times to name him "one of the top jazz pianists in the world" and Jazz Weekly to call him "The most lyrical piano player of our time."
James Weidman's website features reviews, sound bites, recordings, newletter,
biography.
New York-based pianist James Weidman is indisputably one of the world's top sidemen. Over the years he has played and recorded with musicians as diverse as Max Roach, Woody Herman, Archie Shepp, James Moody, Greg Osby, and Marty Ehrlich.
He has also been the accompanist of choice for some of the world's most celebrated singers, including legendary jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln and Cassandra Wilson. Clearly, Weidman -- described by New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff as playing "smoothly and decorously" behind Lincoln at a recent reunion concert -- is one those rare accompanists to whom singers feel it is safe to give free rein ...
John Hicks:
"It was Clark Terry who got me into the mess I'm in today," quipped John Hicks, his sarcasm laced with huge appreciation. "Clark, along with (fellow St. Louis natives) Miles Davis and Oliver Nelson, encouraged me to come to New York."
And since relocating to New York City from St Louis more than 30 years ago, John Hicks is so firmly established among the most in-demand, prolific jazz pianists and composers on the recording and live appearance scenes, critics seem to have permanently affixed the adjective "ubiquitous" to his name. As a leader or first-call sideman, playing inside the chord changes or outside, presenting sparkling ballads or burning up the keyboard at torrid tempos, Hicks is as versatile as he is omnipresent.
John's varied influences include Fats Waller piano rolls, Methodist church music, George Gershwin and bebop, and among his musical mentors were such immortals as Lucky Thompson, Miles Davis and Clark Terry. Hicks played road gigs with blues legends Little Milton and Albert King, and jazz greats Al Grey, Johnny Griffin and Pharaoh Sanders before he arrived in New York in 1963. John then worked with, among numerous others, Kenny Dorham, Lou Donaldson and Joe Henderson before becoming a full-time member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. After two years with the seminal Messengers band, John joined the Betty Carter Trio, another important incubator for world-class beboppers. His productive stints with the vocalist Carter (1966-68) and (1975-80) and a 20-month residency with the Woody Herman Big Band helped to propel John's career as a recording artist into national notice.
The intervening years also saw Hicks appear live and on record with a galaxy of jazz giants that included Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Frank Foster, Roy Haynes, Sonny Stitt, Jon Hendricks and James Moody ...
Pianist Renee Rosnes' website features reviews, sound bites, itinerary,
biography, cds.
The extraordinary pianist and composer Renee Rosnes clearly enjoys the challenge and freedom of playing jazz in numerous formats. Her eight previous Blue Note recordings featured her, brilliantly, in smaller ensembles. Now, on her ninth Blue Note release, Renee Rosnes and the Danish Radio Big Band, Rosnes mines the experience gained during her impressive tenures with both the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Renee Rosnes and the Danish Radio Big Band puts her in the spotlight with the revered Copenhagen ensemble, and reveals her capacity to shine within a jazz orchestra context.
Replete with the phenomenal solos and fluid, yet soulful, virtuosity that distinguish her live performances and previous recordings, Renee Rosnes and the Danish Radio Big Band is her first large ensemble recording featuring her music. It showcases her impressive clarity and range while transmitting a remarkably intimate jazz feel despite the 20-piece orchestra format.
Established in 1964, the Danish Radio Big Band (DRBB) has become synonymous with live jazz magic. From 1998 until January 2003, pianist Jim McNeely served as the DRBB’s chief conductor. He has worked with Phil Woods, Stan Getz, Mel Lewis, and co-led the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra in NYC, and first became acquainted with Rosnes in the ‘80s when she studied with him. In March 2001, the two pianists renewed their creative friendship in Copenhagen when she performed with the DRBB under his baton: the resulting chemistry sparked the decision to record together in December 2001 ...