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Jazz Clinic by Geoffrey Keezer
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Geoffrey Keezer was born on November 20, 1970 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where both his parents taught music. He began studying piano at age three. After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston for one year, Geoffrey moved to New York City in 1989, and at the age of 18 became the last pianist to join Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Since then he has worked with virtually all the living legends of Jazz, including three years on the road as the pianist with the Ray Brown Trio. Geoffrey has appeared on numerous recordings as a sideman and has released nine albums as a leader. The latest is Sublime: Honoring the Music of Hank Jones, an ambitious set of duets with pianists Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Benny Green and Mulgrew Miller. In 2000, he released an innovative solo piano CD entitled Zero One (Dreyfus/GMN). 1998's Turn Up the Quiet (Sony) featured Grammy-nominated vocalist Diana Krall along with Joshua Redman and Christian McBride. Geoffrey performed Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue” in 1992, with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra conducted by John Mauceri. He has also collaborated closely with Barbara Hendricks, the world-renowned classical artist who also devotes much of her time to jazz, on tours in Japan and Europe. He currently records and performs as a member of the Christian McBride Band. Time Magazine wrote that Geoffrey possesses “a refreshingly open-eared sensibility in the modern manner, and he has more than enough virtuosity and sheer musical wit and intelligence to weave all of his apparently disparate strands of influence into an original and compelling whole.” Geoffrey's composing commissions include “Palm Reader” for the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, “Concerto for Orchestra and Piano,” “listen look” for the Saint Joseph Ballet, and “Variables,” a set of variations for piano and string quartet written for the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.
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