Album releases and concerts in 2016- Newport Jazz Festival, Michael Formanek, Eric Revis, John Zorn and Craig Taborn

Very excited to announce that I will perform at the Newport Jazz festival in July this year! I will be performing twice- a solo concert and with Eric Revis’ quartet with Ken Vandermark and Nasheet Waits!

In March, Eric Revis’ new trio record is coming out on Cleanfeed with Eric, myself and Gerald Cleaver. We tour Europe in March (John Betsch plays drums)…see here for dates and locations.  I found an excellent quote from Branford Marsalis about Eric in a recent Jazz Times article: “It’s not so much a big sound, it’s a big beat. He plays with a certain kind of physical authority you don’t find very often anymore.” So true!

Last week I play at Winter Jazz Fest with Michael Formaneks’ new big band, Ensemble Kolossus. His album is coming out on ECM in a few weeks; the music is breathtaking and I’m honored to be a part of this incredible ensemble. I highly recommend taking a listen to this album!

I’m excited to announce that after three years of composing, I have completed a set of new solo works for piano (commissioned by The Shifting Foundation) and will premier the works at the Jazz Gallery in April.  These are short, through composed pieces and I plan to offer the score to each piece as a download through my website.  I will also premier some of the works on a solo European tour in May.

A few months ago I played some of John Zorn’s Bagatelles at the Stone.  This project gave way to a new quartet with myself, Mary Halvorson, Drew Gress and Tyshawn Sorey.  We will play Zorns’ bagatelles at some festivals this year and next year (TBA!) and at the Village Vanguard in August along with some other excellent bands (my first time playing at the Vanguard!).

Thanks to the Shifting Foundation, Craig Taborn and I will perform a series of two piano concerts in the fall, touring the US and Canada for two weeks in October.  We played together this past year for a duos recording I made (more about this soon) and it was one of those rare moments that felt like we’ve been playing together for years.  So excited for this project and a big thanks to The Shifting Foundation for making this possible.

 

Doris Duke Impact Award and Downbeat Critics Poll

I’m very excited to announce that I was chosen to receive a 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award along with Tyshawn Sorey, Matt Mitchell, Henry Threadgill, Mark Dresser, Milford Graves and Mark Dresser.  More information can be found here.

Also, I just found out that I made 2nd place in the category of Rising Star Pianist in this years Critics Poll in Downbeat Magazine!  There is also an excellent review of ‘Save Your Breath’, my new octet record, in this August Downbeat Issue.

Infrasound release date May 19th- Save Your Breath on Clean Feed

My project for 4 bass clarinets (Ben Goldberg, Andrew Bishop, Oscar Noriega, Joachim Badenhorst) with organ (Gary Versace), guitar (Nate Radley), drums (Jim Black) and piano (me!) is coming out soon on Clean Feed.  Here’s a video about the project and the upcoming release on Clean Feed Records.