Benny Green Trio/Mike Gerber
Giants of Jazz Piano
Jazz Under the Stars
Benny Green Trio in New Mexico! A premier!
“For a quarter-century, Benny Green has been deemed one of the most
technically superb jazz pianists of his generation.” - New York Daily News
Benny Green possesses the history of jazz at his fingertips. Combine mastery of keyboard technique with decades of real world experience playing with no one less than the most celebrated artists of the last half century, and it’s no wonder Green has been hailed as perhaps the most exciting hard-swinging, hard-bop pianist to ever emerge from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Accompanied by drummer, Kenny Washington and bassist, Dezron Douglas, the Chicago Tribute raves, “somehow, these three musicians conjured the blues-swing aesthetic, startling contrasts in dynamics and whisper-soft gestures we associate with the Basie style, but distilled to chamber-music dimensions. Now that’s a feat.”
Born in New York in 1963, Benny Green grew up in Berkeley, California, and began classical piano studies at the age of seven. Influenced by his father, a tenor saxophonist, his attention soon turned to Jazz. Benny never looked back and never stopped learning as his blossoming talents, supported by mentors such as Walter Bishop, Jr. and others, plus his love for the music propelled him to the upper strata of jazz luminaries.
Another New Mexico premier!:
Mike Gerber is a pianist and composer of exceptional ability. Blind and nearly deaf since birth, he made his concert debut with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at age 15. He has recorded and performed with some of the biggest names in modern jazz, including Jaco Pastorius, David Liebman, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey and Pat Metheny. He can be heard on several recordings of major labels, among the stand-outs are Live at the Village Vanguard with Michal Urbaniak, Ron Carter and Lenny White, and a piano duo collaboration with Mark Knobel, which reached No. 2 in the nation and was acclaimed by Jazzz and USA Today. Gerber invariably leaves audiences awestruck with his improvisational creativity and technique. His knowledge and style of improvisation are matched only by his technical mastery, the result being a depth, scope and Intensity that few pianists ever achieve.
