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Jason Moran (musician)
Encyclopedia
Jason Moran is a jazz
pianist
and composer who debuted as a band leader with the 1999 album Soundtrack to Human Motion. Since then, he has garnered much critical acclaim and won a number of awards for his playing and compositional skills, which combine elements of stride piano
, avant-garde jazz
, classical music
, hip hop
, and spoken word
, among others. He was named a 2010 MacArthur Fellow.
, Moran began playing the piano when he was six, though he had no love for the instrument until, at the age of 13, he first heard the song
"Round Midnight" by Thelonious Monk
and switched his efforts from classical music to jazz. He attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and then enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music
where he studied with pianist Jaki Byard
. While still in college Moran also received instruction from other avant-garde pianists including Muhal Richard Abrams
and Andrew Hill
.
, he was invited to join the band of saxophonist
Greg Osby
for a European tour. Osby liked his playing, and Moran continued to play with Osby's group upon their return to the United States, making his first recorded appearance on Osby's 1997 Blue Note
album Further Ado (he would subsequently appear on several other Osby albums). This led to Moran signing a contract of his own with Blue Note. Soundtrack to Human Motion, was released in 1999. Moran was joined on the album by Osby, drummer
Eric Harland (a classmate of Moran's at the Manhattan School), vibraphonist
Stefon Harris
and acoustic bassist Lonnie Plaxico
.
. The same group, which came to be known as The Bandwagon, was joined by saxophonist and pianist Sam Rivers
for their next album, Black Stars, which appeared in 2001.
In 2002, Moran released a solo album, Modernistic, and followed it in 2003 with a live trio album, recorded at New York
's Village Vanguard
, called The Bandwagon: Live at the Village Vanguard. The 2005 album Same Mother, Moran's exploration of the blues, brought guitarist Marvin Sewell into the Bandwagon mix. Moran's latest release, 2006's Artist In Residence, included a number of works commissioned by the Walker Art Center
, the Dia Art Foundation
, and Jazz at Lincoln Center
.
Besides his recordings under his own name, Moran has also played and recorded with a range of other artists including Charles Lloyd
, Cassandra Wilson
, Joe Lovano
, Don Byron
, Steve Coleman
, Lee Konitz
, Von Freeman
, Christian McBride
and Ravi Coltrane
. He has won a number of awards, including The Jazz Journalists Association
's "Up-n-Coming Jazz Musician" award in 2003. The Down Beat
critics poll voted him Rising Star Jazz Artist, Rising Star Pianist, and Rising Star Composer for three years straight (2003-2005). In 2005, Moran was also named Playboy
magazine's first "Jazz Artist of the Year". In 2007, Moran was named a USA Prudential Fellow and granted $50,000 by United States Artists
, an arts advocacy foundation dedicated to the support and promotion of America's top living artists.
Moran's current projects include IN MY MIND, a multimedia presentation inspired by Thelonious Monk
's 1959 "large band" concert at The Town Hall
in New York City. He is scheduled to premiere his composition, "Slang" at the 16th Other Minds
Festival in San Francisco. He also currently serves on the faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music, taking over the position occupied by his former teacher, Jaki Byard.
'Special guest' Jason plays piano on Prelude: Light No Lamp on Joe Henry's 2009 album Blood From Stars.
With Joe Lovano
& Greg Osby
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and composer who debuted as a band leader with the 1999 album Soundtrack to Human Motion. Since then, he has garnered much critical acclaim and won a number of awards for his playing and compositional skills, which combine elements of stride piano
Stride piano
Harlem Stride Piano, Stride Piano, or just Stride, is a jazz piano style that was developed in the large cities of the East Coast, mainly in the New York, during 1920s and 1930s. The left hand may play a four-beat pulse with a single bass note, octave, seventh or tenth interval on the first and...
, avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, and spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
, among others. He was named a 2010 MacArthur Fellow.
Education
Growing up in Houston, TexasHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Moran began playing the piano when he was six, though he had no love for the instrument until, at the age of 13, he first heard the song
"Round Midnight" by Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
and switched his efforts from classical music to jazz. He attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and then enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
where he studied with pianist Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard was an American jazz pianist and composer who also played trumpet and saxophone, among several other instruments. He was noteworthy for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz...
. While still in college Moran also received instruction from other avant-garde pianists including Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
and Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one of the most important innovators of jazz piano in the 1960s...
.
Late 1990s
In 1997, when Moran was a senior at Manhattan School of MusicManhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
, he was invited to join the band of saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Greg Osby
Greg Osby
Greg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...
for a European tour. Osby liked his playing, and Moran continued to play with Osby's group upon their return to the United States, making his first recorded appearance on Osby's 1997 Blue Note
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
album Further Ado (he would subsequently appear on several other Osby albums). This led to Moran signing a contract of his own with Blue Note. Soundtrack to Human Motion, was released in 1999. Moran was joined on the album by Osby, drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Eric Harland (a classmate of Moran's at the Manhattan School), vibraphonist
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
Stefon Harris
Stefon Harris
Stefon Harris is an American jazz vibraphonist. In 1999, the Los Angeles Times called him "one of the most important young artists in jazz" who is "at the forefront of new New York music" and "much in demand as a star sideman"...
and acoustic bassist Lonnie Plaxico
Lonnie Plaxico
Lonnie Plaxico is an African American jazz bassist.Plaxico was born in Chicago, Illinois into a musical family, and started playing the bass at the age of twelve, turning professional at fourteen...
.
2000s
Moran's next album, 2000's Facing Left, used a trio of Moran, bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet WaitsNasheet Waits
Nasheet Waits is an American jazz musician who plays drum set.Son of legendary percussionist Freddie Waits; Nasheet is a New York native who has been active on the jazz scene since early in his life. Before pursuing a music career, he studied psychology and history at Morehouse College in Atlanta....
. The same group, which came to be known as The Bandwagon, was joined by saxophonist and pianist Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
for their next album, Black Stars, which appeared in 2001.
In 2002, Moran released a solo album, Modernistic, and followed it in 2003 with a live trio album, recorded at New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Village Vanguard
Village Vanguard
The Village Vanguard is a jazz club located at in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. At first, it also featured other forms of music such as folk music and beat poetry, but it switched to an all-jazz format in 1957.-History:Over 100 jazz...
, called The Bandwagon: Live at the Village Vanguard. The 2005 album Same Mother, Moran's exploration of the blues, brought guitarist Marvin Sewell into the Bandwagon mix. Moran's latest release, 2006's Artist In Residence, included a number of works commissioned by the Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
, the Dia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation is a non-profit organization that initiates, supports, presents, and preserves art projects. It was established in 1974 as the Lone Star Foundation by Philippa de Menil, the daughter of Houston arts patron Dominique de Menil and an heiress to the Schlumberger oil exploration...
, and Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. JALC's performing arts complex, Frederick P. Rose Hall, is located at West 60th Street and Broadway in New York City, slightly south of the main Lincoln Center campus and directly adjacent to Columbus Circle. Frederick P....
.
Besides his recordings under his own name, Moran has also played and recorded with a range of other artists including Charles Lloyd
Charles Lloyd
Charles Lloyd is an American jazz musician. Though he primarily plays tenor saxophone and flute, he has also occasionally recorded on alto saxophone and more exotic reed instruments which include the Hungarian tárogató. Lloyd's saxophone playing is often characterized as an individualized,...
, Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her...
, Joe Lovano
Joe Lovano
Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
, Don Byron
Don Byron
Don Byron is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet, but has also used bass clarinet and saxophones....
, Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman, born , is an African American saxophone player, spontaneous composer, composer and band leader. His music and concepts have been a heavy influence on contemporary jazz.-Chicago:...
, Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
, Von Freeman
Von Freeman
Earle Lavon Freeman Sr. is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist. He is the father of jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman.-Biography:...
, Christian McBride
Christian McBride
Christian McBride is an American jazz bassist. His father, Lee Smith, and his great uncle, Howard Cooper, are well known Philadelphia bassists who served as McBride's early mentors...
and Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane is an American post-bop jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced artists such as pianist Luis Perdomo , guitarist David Gilmore and trumpeter Ralph Alessi....
. He has won a number of awards, including The Jazz Journalists Association
Jazz Journalists Association
The Jazz Journalists Association is an international organization of all types of media professionals who document, promulgate, or appreciate jazz. As of 2011, it has approximately 500 members, primarily in North America but also on other continents...
's "Up-n-Coming Jazz Musician" award in 2003. The Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
critics poll voted him Rising Star Jazz Artist, Rising Star Pianist, and Rising Star Composer for three years straight (2003-2005). In 2005, Moran was also named Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazine's first "Jazz Artist of the Year". In 2007, Moran was named a USA Prudential Fellow and granted $50,000 by United States Artists
United States Artists
United States Artists is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles, California and dedicated to supporting the work of living American artists by the granting of cash awards, called USA Fellowships...
, an arts advocacy foundation dedicated to the support and promotion of America's top living artists.
Moran's current projects include IN MY MIND, a multimedia presentation inspired by Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
's 1959 "large band" concert at The Town Hall
The Town Hall
The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
in New York City. He is scheduled to premiere his composition, "Slang" at the 16th Other Minds
Other Minds
Other Minds is a San Francisco based private 501 not-for-profit organization, founded in 1992 by Charles Amirkhanian and Jim Newman...
Festival in San Francisco. He also currently serves on the faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music, taking over the position occupied by his former teacher, Jaki Byard.
'Special guest' Jason plays piano on Prelude: Light No Lamp on Joe Henry's 2009 album Blood From Stars.
As leader
- Soundtrack to Human Motion (1999)
- Facing Left (2000)
- Black Stars (2001)
- Modernistic (2002)
- The Bandwagon: Live at the Village Vanguard (2003)
- Same Mother (2005)
- Artist In Residence (2006)
- Ten (2010)
As sideman
With Charles Lloyd- Rabo de NubeRabo de Nube-Track listing:# "Prometheus" - 14:42# "Migration of Spirit" - 10:14# "Booker's Garden" - 14:32# "Ramanujan" - 11:38# "La Colline de Monk" - 4:01# "Sweet Georgia Bright" - 12:16# "Rabo de Nube" - 7:36...
(ECM, 2007) - MirrorMirror (Charles Lloyd album)-Track listing:# "I Fall in Love Too Easily" - 5:00# "Go Down Moses" - 5:59# "Desolation Sound" - 7:03# "La Llorona" - 5:35# "Caroline, No" - 4:02...
(ECM, 2010) - Athens ConcertAthens Concert-Track listing:Disc One:# "Kratissa Ti Zoi Mou" - 5:59# "Dream Weaver" - 8:10# "Blow Wind" - 5:34# "Requiem" - 5:57# "Greek Suite Part 1: Hymnos Stin Ayia Triada" - - 4:03...
(ECM, 2011)
With Joe Lovano
Joe Lovano
Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
& Greg Osby
Greg Osby
Greg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...
- Friendly FireFriendly Fire (Joe Lovano & Greg Osby album)Friendly Fire is an album by the American jazz saxophonists Joe Lovano and Greg Osby recorded in 1998 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(Blue Note, 1998)