piano

Harry Redus-Brown

Acoustics of a social experiment

• aural fixation
• super awesome acoustic show
• low spirits
• lauren anderson
• piano
• musicians
• fans
• community
• harry redus-brown
• leeches of lore
• the 5 star motelles
• icelandic
• unit 7 drain
• the glass menageries
• talent
• music

Photo by Rico

Big Easy pianist/composer off-kilter and on target

You never know where pianist Tom McDermott will go haring off to next. That’s because he often hasn’t a clue, either. A daring and inventive improviser, he’s more than willing to go striding (or ragging or rumba-ing or tango-ing) through doors that lead who-knows-where. In the middle of a Scott Joplin piece, he might find an opening that leads straight to James Booker and start mixing the rag’s more straitlaced syncopation with the saucy funk of New Orleans R & B.

• tom mcdermott
• new orleans
• piano
• jazz
• rumba
• tango
• r&b
• funk
• improvisation
• outpost
• music

Joe del Tufo

Solo pianist plays well with others

You can hear Montana in the piano of Grammy-winner George Winston—the open space, the stillness, the wild scents on the wind. Though several decades removed from his Montana boyhood, Winston still clearly recalls the feel of each of the four seasons up in the north country, and those sense memories continue to animate his compositions and performances. They’ve long since been interwoven with a world of musical and geographical influences—from New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair to Hawaiian slack-key guitarist Gabby Pahinui, from jazz pianist/composer Vince Guaraldi to The Doors.

• george winston
• national hispanic cultural center
• amp concerts
• piano
• music
• jazz

The sound of New Orleans, and beyond

New Orleans pianist/composer Tom McDermott has never played in a bordello (although he could once see one from his home), but he has absorbed the New Orleans piano professors’ traditional approach to the eighty-eights. That tradition owes a significant debt to the Big Easy’s classier houses of ill repute, which expected the solo pianist to reproduce all the excitement of a small combo—but at a much lower cost.

• music
• jazz
• choro
• ragtime
• new orleans
• r&b
• piano
• tom mcdermott

Vocalist and pianist dive headfirst into new projects

Arriving for the sound check before her first appearance at the Women’s Voices Concerts a few weeks back, vocalist Susan Abod wasn’t sure what to expect. She’d never played with the band for her set, led by pianist John Rangel.

• jazz
• local
• vocal
• piano
• native american