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David Hazeltine

David Hazeltine is one of a handful of contemporary pianists who has mastered all of the major musical skills, from improvisation and technique, to accompaniment, arranging, and composition. Even more impressive, David is the rare artist able to innovate in each category. Thus it’s no surprise that he’s the most recorded contemporary jazz pianist of our time, having recorded thirty five cd’s as a leader and hundreds more as a sideman, on various major labels globally. A Milwaukee native, David was playing the clubs as a preteen, and before he’d even come of age he was already grabbing the attention and respect of jazz legends like Sonny Stitt, and Chet Baker. They urged him to make the move to New York City, which he did in 1992. Beautifully complex and memorable

The mark of a true artist, David’s style appeals to a wide range of musical tastes and levels of sophistication. His melodies and harmonies are beautifully complex and memorable. As a composer and instrumentalist, he has developed a signature style that is readily recognizable. His cooperative group “One For All” featuring tenor great Eric Alexander, has attained critical acclaim with their impressive 16 cd discography, and live concerts worldwide including appearances at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival.

Hazeltine is one of the most sought after pianists today. He has worked with some of the world’s most respected jazz legends including James Moody, Eddie Harris, Jon Faddis, Joe Henderson, Pepper Adams, Jon Hendricks, and Marlena Shaw. David is known for taking a familiar or unexpected song and making it new, making it his own. He effortlessly transfers this skill from song to stage. Whether he’s composing or interpreting, accompanying or leading, you are certain to end the set remembering the sounds of David Hazeltine. Carrying the art forward

A brilliant teacher, David is also determined to carry the art forward to the next generation. Formerly an Associate Professor at Berklee, he currently teaches at SUNY-Purchase in New York. David is also a highy skilled clinician, and has served on the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Camp faculty for the past 15 years. His teaching has had a major impact on many of today’s young professional pianists including Ben Markley, who published his doctorite “The David Hazeltine Method” based on his lessons with Mr. Hazeltine. Hal Leonard has published the new “Real Book - Enhanced Edition”, featuring David’s own re-harmonizations of 200 well known standards.

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Liner Notes

Reeds and Deeds: Cookin'

Read "Reeds and Deeds: Cookin'" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Chances are that if you're reading these notes right now you're more than a bit familiar with the talents of tenor saxophonists Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart and might even have picked up Wailin' (Criss 1258), their first effort together leading a quintet billed as Reeds and Deeds. As such, it would probably be redundant to go into detailed biographical sketches of each of these men. Suffice it to say that Alexander just might be one of the most recorded ...

5
Liner Notes

One For All: Blueslike

Read "One For All: Blueslike" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


As the timeworn adage goes, sometimes the best things come from situations where one is asked to function in less than ideal circumstances. When you have little time to analyze things and go with pure instincts, there's an air of veracity and spontaneity to the results that is seldom arrived at by any other means. Although the hard bop collective One For Allhas forged a shared identity through regular gigs and a growing catalog of recordings for several labels, including ...

5
Liner Notes

One For All: Live at Smoke Vol.1

Read "One For All: Live at Smoke Vol.1" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Aside from the musical fireworks that make the enclosed sides noteworthy, there are additional factors that mark Live at Smoke as a major event. For one thing, this “on location" recording is one of the rare live dates to grace the Criss Cross catalog. Furthermore, it serves as a perfect summation up to this point of One For All's musical fortunes as heard in the same venue that fostered the ensemble's very formation. Back in the mid-'80s, drummer Joe Farnsworth, ...

20
Album Review

Xaver Hellmeier: X-Man in New York

Read "X-Man in New York" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Drummer Xaver (X-Man) Hellmeier has been little known to date outside his native Germany and other European countries. One way to help redress that oversight is to surround oneself with some of the most well-respected and talented musicians on the New York scene, which is what Hellmeir has done on his superb debut album, X-Man in New York. When it comes to choosing sidemen, it is hard to belie the inclusion of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, pianist ...

7
Album Review

Mary Stallings: Songs Were Made to Sing

Read "Songs Were Made to Sing" reviewed by Dave Linn


One of eleven children, Mary Stallings was born in San Francisco in 1939. In her teens, she began singing in San Francisco night clubs and performed with Ben Webster, Earl Hines, Red Mitchell, Teddy Edwards, and Wes Montgomery. Before graduating from high school, she joined R&B singer Louis Jordan's Tympani Five. In the early '60s, she performed with Dizzy Gillespie at both the Black Hawk nightclub and the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival. Her debut album was Cal Tjader ...

8
Album Review

David Hazeltine: Blues For Gerry

Read "Blues For Gerry" reviewed by Chris May


A longtime member of the Criss Cross family, pianist David Hazeltine began recording for the label in the mid 1990s. Since then he has released around 30 Criss Cross albums, including eight as leader. During this time, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Joe Farnsworth, who complete the trio on Blues For Gerry, have been frequent comrades in arms. Sadly, Criss Cross founder Gerry Teekens passed in 2019. The good news is that his son Jerry has taken ...

4
Liner Notes

David Hazeltine: Inversions

Read "David Hazeltine: Inversions" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


It's often said that those with enviable skills make the most sophisticated actions look easy. Be it glass blowing or ice-skating, what appears to be within the grasp of the novice often involves an underlying complexity not readily apparent at first. The same could be said of higher forms of music such as classical and jazz. What might seem simplistic or straightforward on the surface, actually involves a highly refined degree of mastery that's akin to a magician's flick of ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today!

David Hazeltine is one of a handful of contemporary pianists who has mastered all of the major musical skills, from improvisation and technique, to accompaniment, arranging, and composition. Even more impressive, David is the rare artist able to innovate in each category. Thus it’s no surprise that he’s the most recorded contemporary jazz pianist of our time, having recorded thirty five cd’s as a leader and hundreds more as a sideman, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today!

David Hazeltine is one of a handful of contemporary pianists who has mastered all of the major musical skills, from improvisation and technique, to accompaniment, arranging, and composition. Even more impressive, David is the rare artist able to innovate in each category. Thus it’s no surprise that he’s the most recorded contemporary jazz pianist of our time, having recorded thirty five cd’s as a leader and hundreds more as a sideman, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today!

David Hazeltine is one of a handful of contemporary pianists who has mastered all of the major musical skills, from improvisation and technique, to accompaniment, arranging, and composition. Even more impressive, David is the rare artist able to innovate in each category. Thus it’s no surprise that he’s the most recorded contemporary jazz pianist of our time, having recorded thirty five cd’s as a leader and hundreds more as a sideman, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today!

David Hazeltine is one of a handful of contemporary pianists who has mastered all of the major musical skills, from improvisation and technique, to accompaniment, arranging, and composition. Even more impressive, David is the rare artist able to innovate in each category. Thus it’s no surprise that he’s the most recorded contemporary jazz pianist of our time, having recorded thirty five cd’s as a leader and hundreds more as a sideman... ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today!

DAVID HAZELTINE is one of a handful of young pianists who has successfully forged his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the accumulated greatness and weight of a modern piano tradition. David\'s influences extend from Art Tatum and Bud Powell to such great living masters as Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton. David made his professional debut at age thirteen in Milwaukee... Read more.

Place our Musician of ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today!

DAVID HAZELTINE is one of a handful of young pianists who has successfully forged his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the accumulated greatness and weight of a modern piano tradition. David\'s influences extend from Art Tatum and Bud Powell to such great living masters as Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton. David made his professional debut at age thirteen in Milwaukee... Read more.

Place our Musician of ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today!

DAVID HAZELTINE is one of a handful of young pianists who has successfully forged his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the accumulated greatness and weight of a modern piano tradition. David\'s influences extend from Art Tatum and Bud Powell to such great living masters as Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton. David made his professional debut at age thirteen in Milwaukee... Read more.

Place our Musician of ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today! DAVID HAZELTINE is one of a handful of young pianists who has successfully forged his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the accumulated greatness and weight of a modern piano tradition. David\'s influences extend from Art Tatum and Bud Powell to such great living masters as Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton. David made his professional debut at age thirteen in Milwaukee... Read more. Place our Musician of ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Jazz Musician of the Day: David Hazeltine

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating David Hazeltine's birthday today! DAVID HAZELTINE is one of a handful of young pianists who has successfully forged his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the accumulated greatness and weight of a modern piano tradition. David\'s influences extend from Art Tatum and Bud Powell to such great living masters as Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton. David made his professional debut at age thirteen in Milwaukee... Read more. Place our Musician of ...

77

Performance / Tour

Ian Hendrickson-Smith and David Hazeltine at Tula's - October 15

Ian Hendrickson-Smith and David Hazeltine at Tula's - October 15

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15 TULA’S JAZZ CLUB 2214 2nd Ave, Seattle 7:30pm Reservations: 206-443-4221 Saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith, who has been to Seattle a number of times recently with the wildly popular soul group Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, shares the bill at Tula’s Jazz Club with pianist David Hazeltine on Thursday, October 15. Joining the group will be Phil Sparks on bass and Matt Jorgensen on drums. BIO: Alto, Tenor, Baritone Saxophonist and Flutist ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

X-Man in New York

Cellar Records
2024

buy

Exactly Right

Savant Records
2023

buy

Blues For Gerry

Criss Cross
2023

buy

The Ways In

JZAZ Records
2022

buy

For Adults Only

Postcards
2022

buy

Thank You, Duke!

Arkadia Records
2022

buy

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