CYRUS CHESTNUT

Ellington 125 | Duke Ellington Sacred Concert

Cyrus Chestnut is a jazz pianist, composer and producer. In 2006, Josh Tyrangiel, music critic for Time, wrote: “What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon notes and play space.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chestnut worked with Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, and other bandleaders. He joined the band of jazz vocalist Betty Carter in the early 1990s and appeared on her 1992 album It’s Not About the Melody. That same year, he recorded his first albums as a bandleader, The Nutman Speaks and Nut. Chesnut has continued to work and record as a bandleader into the 21st century.

In 2006, Telarc released Genuine Chestnut, his first album for the label. On it he is accompanied by his regular trio of Michael Hawkins, bass and Neal Smith, drums. Additional artists on this session include Russell Malone, guitar and Steven Kroon, percussion. It includes jazz interpretations of some well-known pop numbers of the past half-century, including “If”, the early 1970s soft-rock ballad by Bread. “This song has been with me ever since the sixth grade,” Chestnut recalled, “I had to play it for my English teacher’s wedding. I’ve played it in many and various contexts. I actually played it in a Top 40 band when I was just out of school. A lot of time has passed, but then recently I just started thinking about it again.” Chestnut’s own “Mason–Dixon Line” is one of the album’s high points, a joyful bebop number.