Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kevin Hays was born in New York City on May 1, 1968 and was the youngest of four children. Raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, he began studying the piano at the age of six after hearing his amateur father play. He was initially interested in rock music and other things that he heard on the radio, and became more interested in jazz in his early teens. Initially self-taught, he later took lessons with Lou Stein, and attended several Interlochen Music Camps.
Hays played locally from 1982. He began playing in New York City in 1985 while still in high school, then had a period in Nick Brignola’s band. He attended the Manhattan School of Music for a semester in 1986 before dropping out to concentrate on performing. His debut recording as a leader came in 1990 with the album El Matador on the Japanese label Jazz City.
He played regularly with a number of Bob Belden’s ensembles from the late 1980s, and in the 1990s he toured Japan and recorded with the Harper Brothers and worked with Steve Wilson, Benny Golson, Joshua Redman, Seamus Blake, and Eddie Henderson.
Between 1991 to 1993 he recorded three albums for SteepleChase Records. After SteepleChase, Kevin signed an album deal with Blue Note Records who initially released three of his albums as a leader. In 1995 he toured with saxophonist Sonny Rollins.
His trio with bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Bill Stewart have played together for 15 years. Hays also recorded under Stewart’s leadership, performed and recorded duets with pianist Brad Mehldau, released a duo album with Lionel Loueke and he has released a solo album. His New Day Trio, with Rob Jost on bass and Greg Joseph on drums, also finds Kevin singing on their first release, New Day.
Pianist Kevin Hays, who has more than twenty albums to his credit as leader or co-leader, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
August Rosenbaum was born on April 30, 1987 in Copenhagen, Denmark into a family of artists. He has had an eclectic and passionate vision since he first started learning to play the piano. As the only one at elementary school recitals who would perform Thelonious Monk, Wu Tang Clan and Erik Satie, the piano prodigy shows with equal conviction many sides of his talent.
Rosenbaum has won two Danish Music Awards for his composing, performed at the acclaimed Sónar Festival, and has been shortlisted for both the Nordic Music Prize and the National Danish Critics’ Award. He has wona Grammy for Best Alternative Album at the 2018 Danish Music Awards.
He is also known for collaborations with artists like Quadron, Rhye and MØ, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and visual artist Jesper Just. He has been commissioned for works in film, theatre and performances at a.o. Palais De Tokyo, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Royal Danish Ballet.
Pianist, composer and record producer August Rosenbaum continues to explore and record music.
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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.
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TYRONE JACKSON
The name Tyrone Jackson is the quintessential jazz piano player. His boundless creativity coupled with harmonic mastery, utilizes the piano as a blank canvas. Jackson is nationally recognized and has traveled the world as a solo artist and sideman.
As a composer, Jackson has composed original music for Pulitizer Prize winning author Natasha Tretheway’s book of poems “Native Guard” turned theatrical play, Pearl Clege’s play, “Tell Me My Dream”, “Ethel” and this year’s Alliance Theater production of “Nick’s Flamingo Grill.” Jackson has recorded 4 Albums—“Dedicated”, “Another Voyage”, “Melody In Nede”, and new release “From The Mind Of.”
Lavahi is a scholar-artist on a mission to better society from the inside out. Through her music, scholarship, and performance, LAVAHI is building a platform to nourish the heart and mind, empathize our human experiences, and vibe together. As a daughter of jazz, the culture heavily informs her ideology and influences her sound. Acrobatic scatting, compelling chords, and the art of improvisation evoke that classic traditional aesthetic and set her contemporary sound apart from the norm of mainstream neo-soul, hip hop, and R&B. And with her satisfying blend of analog and digital sounds, LAVAHI shows that the lineage of Black sound is not linear but ever folding and stretching.
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DOUBLE N TRIO & NEGRONI’S TRIO
The Double N Trio is headed up by Noah Nipp, hence the double “n” in the groups name.
Negroni’s Trio is a jazz band that plays piano jazz, Latin jazz, hard bop, jazz instrument, and soul jazz. The band is made up of Jose Negroni on piano, Nomar Negroni on drums, and Josh Allen on bass. They have been active since 2002 and have released nine albums, including New Era, Esperanzas/Hopes, and Piano – Drums – Bass. Their songs include “Esperanzas”, “El Incomprendido”, and “Sunny”.
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