$20 General $10 Student
Pianist Julian Shore is known for his "deep maturity as a composer and bandleader" (DownBeat) and has been called “a pianist/composer who beyond the obvious elegance of his playing, has a clear sense of the bigger artistic picture” (Peter Hum, Ottowa Citizen). His work as both a versatile sideman and experienced bandleader has JazzTimes calling him one of the “leaders of the young Jazz piano scene.”
From Narragansett, Rhode Island, Shore grew up listening to his father playing Bach on his home piano and would often sing along as a toddler. After starting piano lessons at a young age he began studies with famed educator Hal Crook as a teenager. Shortly thereafter Shore was awarded a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music. During his time there, under the mentorship of Danilo Perez, he performed in the Panama Jazz Festival, learning from Wayne Shorter, Brian Blade, John Patitucci while there.
He moved to New York shortly after graduating and had his first serious performing experience with acclaimed singer Gretchen Parlato- touring the US and internationally with her band, including the Stockholm Jazz Festival. Since then he has become one of the most in-demand pianists in New York, appearing as both leader and sideman at historic venues like Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Blue Note, and jazz festivals around the globe. He has had the opportunity to perform, tour and record with musicians such as Theo Bleckmann, Gretchen Parlato, Chico Pinheiro, Don Braden, Sara Gazarek, Ferenc Nemeth, Gilad Hekselman, Dayna Stephens, Noah Preminger, Ben Monder, John Hollenbeck, Mark Giuliana, Petros Klampanis among many others.
Carmen STaaf
“…What makes you sit up and pay attention the most is Staaf’s pianism. It’s brilliant, enriched stuff, as rugged as it is lush. Still a rather unrecognized figure, her playing comes from a lineage that favors Mary Lou Williams over Art Tatum, Herbie Nichols over Herbie Hancock—but every one of those figures is in there. Science Fair suggests we’re just starting to see how deep her talents go.” - Giovanni Russonello, DownBeat
Pianist/composer Carmen Staaf is an active voice in the NYC and global music scenes. She is the pianist and musical director for Grammy-winning vocalist and NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater, with whom she performs around the world. She also co-leads the band Science Fair with drummer Allison Miller, as well as co-leading a piano trio with drummer Jeff Williams. Science Fair’s eponymous debut album was released in 2018 on Sunnyside to wide acclaim, making the New York Times and Los Angeles Times lists of Best Jazz of 2018 as well as garnering a 4.5-star review in DownBeat. Jeff Williams Trio’s “Bloom” (with Michael Formanek) was released in 2019 to critical success including a rave review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The trio will release the album “Woodland” under Carmen’s name on Newvelle records in June 2020. Carmen also leads her own sextet, Day Dream, and her own trio, as well as playing in Jenny Scheinman and Allison Miller’s Parlour Game (whose debut album came out in 2019 to rave reviews), and in the bands of trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and vocalists Thana Alexa (“ONA” due out March 2020) and Allegra Levy (for whom she has arranged and played on four albums). A graduate of the Thelonious Monk Institute (now the Herbie Hancock Institute), Staaf’s past major performances have included the Playboy Jazz Festival in a two-piano setting with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and the Kennedy Center alongside Kenny Barron, Fred Hersch and Joey Alexander. She has been heard at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, SFJazz and major jazz festivals around the world including Newport, Monterey, Panama, Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals, among many others. Her most recent release as a leader is “Science Fair” (Sunnyside, 2018).
