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Lafayette Gilchrist
Lafayette Gilchrist leads the New Volcanoes and the Sonic Trip Masters All Stars. Gilchrist's bands are genre-defying; featuring a propulsive rhythm section and a dynamic horn line, which never fails to raise the roof. His solo work and trio Inside Out invite adventurous ears everywhere.
While steadily leading his Baltimore-based bands with a progressive stream of new music, Lafayette Gilchrist toured with David Murray in his octet and quartets for 13 years. During his time with Murray, he has performed at the Berlin Jazz Festival, recorded on Murray’s Sacred Ground EP for the National Hungarian Radio and Television, and played the Winter Jazz Festival and Vision Jazz Festival in NYC to name a few. He has performed with notable artists such as Carl Grubbs, David Murray, Cassandra Wilson, Macy Gray, Oliver Lake, Marshall Keys, Orrin Evans, Paul Dunmall, Allyn Johnson, TK Blue, Robert Shahid, Alan Blackman, Hamid Drake, William Parker, Michael Formanek, Tarus Mateen and many more. His compositions, Assume the Positionand Coded Sources, are a part of the original score for David Simon’s The Wire and Treme, respectively. Gilchrist was a recipient of the 2009 Independent Music Award for Best Album-Jazz for Soul Progressin’. Gilchrist was also a recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Maryland Traditions Master/Apprentice award in which he mentored Ethan Simon in 2010.
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Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted
by Pat Youngspiel
On Undaunted Washington D.C.-raised and Baltimore-educated pianist Lafayette Gilchrist continues his idiosyncratically swinging trajectory with deep grooves, memorable lines and the gritty, unapologetic type of interplay that first brought him international acclaim on the 2004 recording The Music According To Lafayette Gilchrist. Few will have forgotten the catchy track Assume The Position" off that album, used prominently in the popular David Simon-produced series The Wire." Some of the funkier, more electric bits in his writing have been replaced with a ...
read moreLafayette Gilchrist, John McLaughlin, Cannonball Adderley and More
by Jerome Wilson
This is an older show from December 2021 that features several different pianists and saxophonists. Musicians heard include Lafayette Gilchrist, Cannonball Adderley, John McLaughlin, Noah Haidu, Chet Doxas, and more. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Lafayette Gilchrist Dark Matter" from Dark Matter (Self Produced) 00:51 Noah Haidu Steepian Faith" from Doctone (Sunnyside) 6:09 Host Speaks 13:24 Lucian Ban ...
read moreLafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted
by Mike Jurkovic
Barn-burning, barrel-housing pianist Lafayette Gilchrist may or may not be known by everyone pretending to be hip and attuned or even by the rather rarefied company he has been known to keep--David Murray, Cassandra Wilson, Andrew Cyrille--but Undaunted is going to get him some much deserved attention. Abundant with cajones and plenty of rhythm, Undaunted captures the imagination and attention immediately. The title track percolates within a laid back groove that Gilchrist, an admitted admirer of Duke Ellington's ...
read moreLafayette Gilchrist: Now
by Ian Patterson
For much of the 2010s, Baltimore-based pianist/composer Lafayette Gilchrist has looked to larger ensembles to give voice to his expansive arrangements. In fact, you have to go back to Three (Hyena, 2007) to find his previous trio outing. With Now, Gilchrist embraces a more intimate setting in the company of drummer Eric Kennedy and bassist Herman Burnie. It's a triumphant, grass-roots return that showcases the dazzling breadth and originality of Gilchrist's pianism and the enduring appeal of the piano trio ...
read moreLafayette Gilchrist: Now
by Franz A. Matzner
Pianist and composer Lafayette Gilchrist has made clear that, in part, Now addresses the racial and political conflicts erupting across America in 2020. The music is suitably intense and tumultuous. The album demands change while also reminding us that the violence and divisions splintering the country are not new. The repression and oppression embedded in American race relations has been pervasive for an unconscionably long time. Gilchrest pointedly underscores this through pieces like Bmore Careful," which pulses forward ...
read moreLafayette Gilchrist: Now
by Geno Thackara
In some alternate world somewhere, Lafayette Gilchrist is a great modern American novelist, spinning real-life stories that vividly evoke the spirit of the times. In our world, he ended up as a comparable spirit doing the same thing in the music realm instead. His piano playing nonetheless criss-crosses the span of jazz, blues, funk, gospel, ragtime, boogie and much else besides, weaving all manner of familiar elements in the way other storytellers would thread recognizable slices of life into their ...
read moreThree Rounds of Solo Piano
by Geno Thackara
Diogo Vida Inner Dance Self Produced 2020 The isolation album has sprung up as a new genre practically overnightan unfortunate if unavoidable development in the season of Covid-19. If Diogo Vida is one among many in that regard, at least where quantity is concerned, he also stands alone in having a quality all his own. This outing makes a candid snapshot of an unusual time, having been recorded over one day near the beginning of ...
read moreSat., October 10: Lafayette Gilchrist Celebrates 'Now' With Livestream Album Release Concert Presented By Creative Alliance
Source:
Braithwaite & Katz Communications
Pianist, composer and bandleader extraordinaire Lafayette Gilchrist returns to the trio format on his engrossing, self-released double disc, NOW, the follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed solo piano album, Dark Matter, which many critics cited as one of 2019’s best jazz releases. Gilchrist will celebrate with a livestream album release concert on Saturday, October 10, 8 p.m. EDT presented by Creative Alliance in Baltimore, Joining him are his trio mates from his band Specials Revealed, bassist Herman Burney and drummer ...
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Louis Moholo-Moholo with Lafayette Gilchrist at Jazzway in Baltimore on Feb. 6
Source:
Michael Ricci
Lafayette Gilchrist to Release "Soul Progressin,'" Announces East Coast Shows
Source:
All About Jazz
LAFAYETTE GILCHRIST & THE NEW VOLCANOES New Album SOUL PROGRESSIN' Available September 9 East Coast Shows To Follow
...the heir to Thelonious Monk." - Entertainment Weekly
Imagine pianist Billy Preston in the FBI witness protection program; he hides out in the Washington, DC, go-go scene and then the jazz underground; he invents an unlikely pseudonym to go with his new style: a sort of twisted, funky, neo-juke-joint avant-gut-bucket." - Detroit Metro Times
...it's Gilchrist's ...
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18th Annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival: Holly Cole, Lafayette Gilchrist and Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Source:
All About Jazz
Arlington, Va - Praised among our region's standout jazz festivals by JazzTimes magazine, the 18th Annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival takes place on Saturday (12:30pm - 7:00pm), September 6, 2008, at Gateway Park, 1300 Lee Hwy (N. Lynn St. & Lee Hwy), in Arlington, Virginia (just across Key Bridge from Georgetown, 2 blocks from Rosslyn Metro Station). The event features yet another powerful lineup, including versatile vocalist Holly Cole - Canada's 2008 Juno Awardee for Best Jazz Album"; Grammy Award-winning Salsa ...
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Lafayette Gilchrist "Three" on Hyena Records
Source:
All About Jazz
"Imagine pianist Billy Preston in the FBI witness protection program; he hides out in the Washington, DC, go-go scene and then the jazz underground; he invents an unlikely pseudonym to go with his new style: a sort of twisted, funky, neo-juke-joint avant-gut-bucket." - Detroit Metro Times
In March 2007, pianist Lafayette Gilchrist opened the Banlieues Bleues Festival in Paris, France with a set of solo piano. He was the under-card that night on a bill with the legendary Allen Toussaint. ...
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Lafayette Gilchrist Heads 'Towards the Shining Path' on HYENA Records
Source:
All About Jazz
"Imagine pianist Billy Preston in the FBI witness protection program; he hides out in the Washington, D.C. go-go scene and then the jazz underground; he invents an unlikely pseudonym to go with his new style: a sort of twisted, funky, neo-juke-joint avant-gut-bucket." - W. Kim Heron, Detroit Metro Times
This Baltimore jazz pianist is young enough to root his improvisations in funk rhythms rather than swing, but he's smart enough to give those muscular grooves real melodies and ...
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Lafayette Gilchrist Returns To Zanzibar Blue Feb. 18 & 19 in Philadelphia
Source:
All About Jazz
LAFAYETTE GILCHRIST Back By Popular Demand For A Weekend Engagement February 18th & 19th At Zanzibar Blue
In support of his debut album, The Music According to Lafayette Gilchrist
Rhythms slide from slow strutting blues to staccato hip-hop breaks. Horn sections burst like big-band blossoms only to splinter into wide-screen free-fall soloing. The bass and drums kick up a funky mettle behind Gilchrist's wiggly lines, which hopscotch from stride to vamp to spacey tangents to tight ...
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Lafayette Gilchrist in Philadelphia @ Chris' Jazz Cafe / Friday, September 10th
Source:
All About Jazz
Rhythms slide from slow strutting blues to staccato hip-hop breaks. Horn sections burst like big-band blossoms only to splinter into wide-screen free-fall soloing. The bass and drums kick up a funky mettle behind Gilchrist's wiggly lines, which hopscotch from stride to vamp to spacey tangents to tight motifs all before you know what's going on. It's a beyond-genre force that runs you over and leaves you flattened with a smile." - Baltimore City Paper
Lafayette Gilchrist is a rising star ...
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Lafayette Gilchrist Signs With HYENA / Debut Album Available June 29th
Source:
All About Jazz
His Debut Album, THE MUSIC ACCORDING TO LAFAYETTE GILCHRIST Set For Release on June 29th, 2004
New York, NY - The American jazz tradition has produced an array of legendary pianists/composers over the years whose larger-than-life names are perfectly suited for their superior talents: Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Bud Powell, Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Horace Tapscott, to name but a few. Add to that list, Lafayette Gilchrist, the Baltimore-based artist who will make his national recording debut on ...
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“Imagine pianist Billy Preston in the FBI witness protection program; he hides out in the Washington, D.C., go-go scene and then the jazz underground; he invents an unlikely pseudonym to go with his new style: a sort of twisted, funky, neo-juke-joint avant-gut-bucket." — Detroit Metro Times
“...it's Gilchrist’s cussed willingness to continually put a Baltimore-centric stamp on jazz that has made him the city's most respected pianist.” — Baltimore City Paper
Photos
Music
Metropolitan Musings (Them Streets Again)
From: UndauntedBy Lafayette Gilchrist
The Wonder of Being Here
From: NowBy Lafayette Gilchrist
For The Go Go
From: Dark MatterBy Lafayette Gilchrist