John Esposito

John Esposito

Musicians | Instrument: Piano | Location: New York City

One of the strongest jazz pianists on the planet... an underrecognized giant.

—Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

Updated: March 10, 2024

Born: March 4, 1953

John Esposito is an American pianist/composer/drummer/producer who works on a wide array of creative music projects. His technical skills and the range of his artistic palette extend across the stylistic boundaries of the Stride Piano, Swing, Bebop, Modal and Free Music movements. He has performed and recorded with artists including Nick Brignola, Dave Douglas, Dave Holland, Carter Jefferson, Franklin Kiermyer, Joe Lovano, J.R. Monterose, David “Fathead” Newman, Eric Person, Arthur Rhames, Sam Rivers, Roswell Rudd, Pharaoh Sanders and John Stubblefield.

John is the owner/executive producer of Sunjump Records. He has created music for theater, dance, film, TV commercials, and multimedia performance art. He is a music faculty member and Artist-In-Residence at Bard College and resides in New York State’s Hudson Valley.

After attending SUNY Albany John worked as house pianist at the Gemini Jazz Cafe for several years leading his own group with guest soloists including Nick Brignola and John Stubblefleld and spent a year working in saxophonist J.R. Monterose’s band.

He moved to New York City in 1980 and met the phenomenal, young saxophonist/pianist/guitarist Arthur Rhames while playing on guitarist Steve Geraci’s Beat City label record date Aliqae Song with John Stubblefield and Rashied Ali. John worked in the Arthur Rhames Quartet for the next five years.

In 1985, John formed Second Sight – a quintet with trumpeter Dave Douglas, saxophonist Jeff Marx, and drummer Jeff Siegel. They recorded Flying With The Comet in 1986, an album of John’s original compositions released on John’s independent label Sunjump Records followed by Tiger Tracks (1987). This five year period marked the beginning of John’s work as a producer and in addition to Second Sight’s music, Sunjump released a Jose Chalas record, Living On Avenue F and Marc Wagnon’s, Shadowlines.

Throughout the eighties John also worked with Carter Jefferson, John Stubblefield, J.R. Monterose, Hugh Brodie, Greg Abate, Nick Brignola, Bobby Johnson Jr, Roswell Rudd, Beaver Harris, and many others.

In 1987 John moved to Woodstock, NY and in 1989 formed the FM Artists Coalition with saxophonist Erica Lindsay and bassist Anthony Cox. The group lasted three years beginning with a series of monthly house concerts, continuing with two years of co-productions with the Woodstock Guild in the Kleinert/James Gallery, culminating in August 1992 in a three day Jazz, Poetry and Visual Arts Festival at the Byrdcliff Barn. John produced 25 concerts for the FM Coalition and the 160 artists presented included Karl Berger, Tim Berne, Cindy Blackman, Baikida Carrol, Dave Douglas Tiny Bell Trio, Marilyn Crispell, Santi DeBriano, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Fiuczinski, Dave Holland, Howard Johnson, Second Sight, and Wadada Leo Smith.

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10
Album Review

John Esposito: Blues For Outlaw Hearts

Read "Blues For Outlaw Hearts" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist John Esposito, the head honcho at Sunjump Records, has made part of his life's mission to feature underappreciated musicians. Guitarist Sangeeta Michael Berardi, who passed in 2024, was one of them. Berardi owed a big debt to saxophonist John Coltrane. This can be heard--leaving no doubt--on his Sunjump outing Earthship, released in 2008. In the mode of Coltrane, the music was soaring, seemingly divinely inspired. John Esposito held down the piano chair. No easy task considering the relentless uplift ...

301
Album Review

John Esposito / Ira Coleman / Peter O'Brien: Orisha

Read "Orisha" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


No matter the musical constellations he has worked in, deconstruction and reimagining of the jazz tradition has always been a crucial part of the art of pianist John Esposito. This is especially true when considering his take on the piano trio, one of the most tried and true formats in jazz. Back in 2006, Esposito released Down Blue Marlin Road on his own Sunjump label. It was a record that showcased his encyclopedic knowledge of tradition, from ...

240
Album Review

John Esposito / Jeff "Siege" Siegel / Jeff Marx: Inyo

Read "Inyo" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


Experiment with form lies at the heart of everything pianist John Esposito plays or composes. Whether he's exploring and redefining the language of the standard with his trio or writing for a large ensemble as on A Book of Five Rings (Sunjump, 2008), he has the ability to immerse himself completely in the form that's explored. This is also the case with Inyo, which is a collaboration with saxophonist Jeff Marx and drummer Jeff Siegel--both of whom played with Esposito ...

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Record Label Profile

Sunjump: Archaeology of the Present

Read "Sunjump: Archaeology of the Present" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


In a time when the music business, as many other other branches of commerce, is in crisis, it has become increasingly relevant to ask what needs to be done in order to save record labels. While the major companies retreat to protective copyright thinking and unimaginative repacking of archive material, a new host of independent labels is embracing the possibilities of the new digital area, seeing it as blessing rather than a curse. What drives these independent labels is the ...

190
Album Review

John Esposito: The Blue People

Read "The Blue People" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


Blue is the color of the blues. It's the mood of sadness and tranquility. It's the freedom and infinity of the ocean and the open sky. It's the rhythm and roots of jazz. The future and the past coalesced into a moment of improvisation.

Pianist John Esposito's The Blue People seems to unite all the aspects of the color blue. The music on the album has the sweep of history while still being able to sound totally fresh. It's pure, ...

304
Album Review

Second Sight: Flying With The Comet

Read "Flying With The Comet" reviewed by Warren Allen


Some jazz fans have come to look down on the '80s as a lost decade. A band like Second Sight shows just how wrong they can be, with the reissued Flying with the Comet (1986) thrumming with intensity.

The brainchild of pianist and composer John Esposito, the band refuses to choose between tradition and innovation. All the traces of the past greats who inspired this music show up clear and sharp as ever in the sound and spirit; that said, ...

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1

Recording

Sunjump Records Announces the Release of 'Laura' by the John Esposito Sextet

Sunjump Records Announces the Release of 'Laura' by the John Esposito Sextet

Source: John Esposito

John Esposito is an American pianist/composer/drummer/producer who works on a wide array of creative music projects. His technical skills and the range of his artistic palette extend across the stylistic boundaries of the Stride Piano, Swing, Bebop, Modal and Free Music movements. He has performed and recorded with artists including Nick Brignola, Dave Douglas, Dave Holland, Carter Jefferson, Franklin Kiermyer, Joe Lovano, J.R. Monterose, David “Fathead” Newman, Eric Person, Arthur Rhames, Sam Rivers, Roswell Rudd, Pharaoh Sanders and John Stubblefield. ...

3

Recording

Sunjump Records Announces New John Esposito Trio Release: Blues For Outlaw Hearts

Sunjump Records Announces New John Esposito Trio Release: Blues For Outlaw Hearts

Source: John Esposito

Sunjump Records announces a new John Esposito Trio release: Blues For Outlaw Hearts “Its restless energy refuses to reside into the background and the dramatic ebb and flow of the music speaks of three artists for whom art is created in the here-and-now.” —Jakob Baekgaard, All About Jazz John Esposito presents his third trio record with ten new compositions (see tracks below). Recorded July 12 & 13 2022 by Scott Petito at NRS Catskill, NY Edited, mixed and mastered ...

94

Recording

Sunjump Records Announces New CD Release by John Esposito

Sunjump Records Announces New CD Release by John Esposito

Source: John Esposito

The tenth CD to appear on Sunjump, John Esposito's Orisha is his second trio recording with bassist Ira Coleman and drummer Peter O'Brien. The trio's first CD “Down Blue Marlin Road" was “deconstruction/reconstruction" of some of the most oft played tunes of the jazz standard repertoire. The trio also collaborated on Jeff Marx's Treading Air...Breathing Fire (Soluna Records) and Mitch Kessler's Erratica (Sunjump Records) and his upcoming Sunjump CD Der Erlkönig. Orisha is a collection of ten Esposito originals. Coleman ...

152

Recording

New Sunjump Records Releases Winter 2009-2010

New Sunjump Records Releases Winter 2009-2010

Source: Michael Ricci

SUNJUMP RECORDS ANNOUNCES NEW RELEASES FOR WINTER 2009/2010

Jayna Nelson: Bloom Of Creation SJCD0009 Live Concert From The Knitting Factory, NYC Recorded February 1999 Released December 2009/January 2010

Jayna Nelson, Flute Matt Schulman, Trumpet John Esposito, Piano Francois Moutin, Bass Peter O'Brien, Drums

“This ensemble was an offshoot of John Esposito's A Book Of Five Rings. Several of the pieces were formatted conceptually using a visual reference or ...

185

Recording

Sunjump Records Announces New Releases for Fall 2009

Sunjump Records Announces New Releases for Fall 2009

Source: Michael Ricci

Jeff Marx and Jeff Siegel with John Esposito Inyo (SJCD0008) Recorded February 2009

Jeff Marx, Tenor Saxophone Jeff Siegel, Drums John Esposito, Piano Compositions by Marx, Siegel, Esposito

The first trio recording of eleven new compositions by Marx, Siegel and Esposito, former members of Second Sight. “The music on Inyo started as a series of melodic sketches. Everything else - the harmony, the rhythmic interpretation and the overall shape of ...

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Performance / Tour

John Esposito Quartet Concert

John Esposito Quartet Concert

Source: Michael Ricci


188

Recording

Sunjump Records Announces New Releases for Spring 2009

Sunjump Records Announces New Releases for Spring 2009

Source: All About Jazz

Mitch Kessler: Erratica SJCD0007 Recorded Fall 2008 Mitch Kessler, Tenor and Alto Saxophones John Esposito, Piano Ira Coleman, Bass Peter O'Brien, Drums Compositions by Mitch Kessler This debut CD by the alto and tenor saxophone virtuoso Mitch Kessler brings to light a little known but highly developed instrumental and compositional voice. 8 originals by this prolific composer draw on his arsenal of Post Dolphy/Coltrane, Free Jazz, ...

He is described as "...one of the strongest jazz pianists on the planet, an underrecognized giant" by Bruce Lee Gallanter - Downtown Music Gallery Michael G. Nastos in the All Music Guide describes John Esposito as playing "..lucid, forward thinking, rhythmically propelling ideas...he succeeds on many real and important levels in creating some of the finest new modern jazz you may hear in the post Wynton Marsalis era...A bold conception and execution to be sure....from a brilliant player who deserves wider attention." John Szwed in the Village Voice describes John's playing as having, "the lustrous clarity of a gamelan band" using repetition so brilliantly that crystalline forms accrue from it." "Highly individual deconstruction/reconstruction of some of jazz's most ridden warhorses by a stunningly interactive trio of pianist John Esposito with bassist Ira Coleman and drummer Peter O’Brien..

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Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

New York City

Credentials/Background

Professor of Music and Artist-In-Residence, Jazz Program at Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY, USA

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All About Jazz user John Esposito

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