Greg Goebel was born in Oregon and began playing piano and composing music from an early age. Upon graduation from the University of Oregon, the school said of his achievements, “Greg has personally done more to elevate the performance level of our jazz students than any other person, graduate or undergraduate, who has attended the U of O in at least the last fifteen years.” While at the University of Oregon, he received numerous awards including a Composition award in Downbeat Magazine. Greg then moved to Portland, OR where he quickly became one of the most in demand pianists in the area. His musical style, “rich with subtle complexities and harmonic surprises” make him a distinct voice among jazz pianists today. Goebel has recorded and toured extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Currently recording and touring with singer Gino Vannelli, his contributions can be heard on the CD, The Best and Beyond. As a member of the David Friesen Trio, his work can be heard on Friesen’s 2009 CD, Five and Three, the 2011 CD, Circle of Three and the 2013 release, Brilliant Heart. Also as part of the Portland Jazz Quintet, Goebel can be heard on PDXV Vol. I and Vol. II. Greg also leads his own group featuring Rob Davis on saxophones, Dave Captein on bass and Todd Strait on drums. The debut album, Rainy City, will be released in 2013. In addition to keeping a busy schedule in Portland, Goebel has had the pleasure of performing with notable musicians such as John Handy, Dick Oatts, Terrell Stafford, Larry Koonse, Houston Person, Byron Stripling, Pete Christlieb, Alan Jones, Rebecca Kilgore, Gary Hobbs, Ron Steen, and many others.
“Goebel negotiates even his most challenging runs with deftness, never
showboating but manifesting his ideas with the immediacy and sureness of a
master craftsman.”
-JazzTimes
"Greg Goebel's new CD Rainy City firmly places him in a small handful of world
class improvisers that have taken the language of the jazz masters and
combined it with the new emerging landscape of rhythmic sophistication
characterized by the generation of jazzers in the new millennium. Here is a
force that is stretching known boundaries and moving the music into new
territory."
-Larry Koonse
Guitarist
California Institute of the Arts Faculty
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“Goebel negotiates even his most challenging runs with deftness, never
showboating but manifesting his ideas with the immediacy and sureness of a
master craftsman.”
-JazzTimes
"Greg Goebel's new CD Rainy City firmly places him in a small handful of world
class improvisers that have taken the language of the jazz masters and
combined it with the new emerging landscape of rhythmic sophistication
characterized by the generation of jazzers in the new millennium. Here is a
force that is stretching known boundaries and moving the music into new
territory."
-Larry Koonse
Guitarist
California Institute of the Arts Faculty
"Greg Goebel is counted as one of the great new jazz promises on his
instrument."
-Uppsala.com
"A young musician with talent to make larger waves. Goebel's solos, rich with
complexities and harmonic surprises, earned sustained applause from the
audience."
-Doug Ramsey
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