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Andy LaVerne

Jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Andy LaVerne studied at Juilliard, Berklee, and the New England Conservatory, and took private lessons from legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans. The list of musicians with whom LaVerne has worked reads like a Who's Who in jazz: Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz, Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea, Lionel Hampton, Michael Brecker, Elvin Jones, and numerous others.

A prolific recording artist, his projects as a leader number over 50, the most recent are: Intuition, a duo with saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi (SteepleChase), and Epiphany, a collection of Andy’s newest compositions (ClaveBop).

LaVerne is also a prominent jazz educator, having released a series of instructional videos, Guide to Modern Jazz Piano, Vols. 1 &, 2, and Jazz Piano Standards (Homespun Tapes), featuring the Yamaha Disklavier, as well as the video, In Concert (Homespun Tapes), with guitarist John Abercrombie. He is the author of Handbook of Chord Substitutions, Tons of Runs (Ekay), Bill Evans Compositions 19 Solo Piano Arrangements, and is the pianist on The Chick Corea Play-Along Collection (Hal Leonard). The Music Of Andy LaVerne (SteepleChase Publications) has recently been published. Forthcoming are Keyboard’s Jazz Piano Compendium (BackBeat Books), and Jazz Bach, and Jazz Chopin (Mel Bay). Countdown To Giant Steps (Aebersold Jazz) is a two CD play-a-long with companion book, of which LaVerne served as player/producer/writer, and Tunes You Thought You Knew (Aebersold Jazz) is a LaVerne play-a-long CD/book set. Secret of the Andes, a collection of LaVerne originals, is Andy’s newest offering from Aebersold Jazz.

Andy is a frequent contributor (since 1986) to Keyboard Magazine, and Piano Today Magazine. His articles have also appeared in Down Beat, Jazz Improv, Piano Quarterly, Jazz and Keyboard Workshop, and JazzOne.

Andy is the recipient of five Jazz Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and winner of the 2000 John Lennon Songwriting contest for his tune Shania. He has appeared at concerts, festivals, and clubs throughout the world, and has also given clinics and Master classes at universities, colleges, and conservatories worldwide. Recently he has toured and recorded with legendary singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka. LaVerne is Professor of Jazz Piano at The Hartt School (University of Hartford), and on the faculty of the Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops.

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31
Album Review

Tim Lin: Empathy

Read "Empathy" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Saxophonist Tim Lin, still fresh enough on the scene to be described as a “young lion," tips his horn to a number of his mentors on Empathy, his second album as a leader, following 2021's Romance on Formosa. As on that earlier album, Lin, a first generation Taiwanese-American (from Fremont, CA), has chosen a charming blend of standards and jazz staples to complement a lone original composition, “Fourth Right," by the superb pianist Andy LaVerne. And as before, Lin plays ...

10
Album Review

Frank Tiberi, Joe Lovano and George Garzone: Tiberian Mode

Read "Tiberian Mode" reviewed by Jim Worsley


While the three tenor saxophone soloists with piano, bass, and drums was already a proven sextet formula, the Tiberian Mode is one of vast reproportioning and accelerated creativity. Led by big band divinity Frank Tiberi and two of his disciples, George Garzone, and Joe Lovano, the project unleashes power, vigor, and contrasting jazz sensibilities. Attention is piqued even before listening when you learn that the first song is the first and last section of John Coltrane's “Giant Steps" ...

148
Album Review

Andy LaVerne: Intelligent Design

Read "Intelligent Design" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Certainly not your household name by any stretch of the imagination, pianist Andy LaVerne is nonetheless a particularly adept pianist who has worked with many jazz legends over the years including Stan Getz, Frank Sinatra, Michael Brecker and Lionel Hampton. He's also a respected educator and has been largely documented on almost forty dates as a leader for the Danish SteepleChase imprint, including Intelligent Design.

It is an out-of-the-ordinary ensemble that LaVerne assembles for the date at hand, ...

235
Multiple Reviews

Andy LaVerne: Epiphany & Process of Illumination

Read "Andy LaVerne: Epiphany & Process of Illumination" reviewed by Eric J. Iannelli


When considering these two discs by pianist Andy LaVerne, it's easy to think that he has some kind of obsession with the revelatory experience. That may be so. But the similarity between the titles seems to be more coincidental than anything else. The first comes from the unusual inspiration to form a piano/organ (not one or the other, but both) trio, the second from a “slip of the tongue by a friend" that upon reflection took on additional meaning.

113
Album Review

Andy LaVerne & Dave Samuels: Between Earth & Mars

Read "Between Earth & Mars" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Like label mate Harold Danko, pianist Andy LaVerne possesses talent that should be commensurate with a much broader public awareness. One of sax legend Stan Getz’s favorite accompanists, LaVerne has built a sizable catalog for SteepleChase over the past two decades- some 18 strong- with Between Earth & Mars serving as a reunion with vibraphonist Dave Samuels. Also thrown into the mix is bassist Jay Anderson, who completes this rather atypical trio.

Far away from his visibility as a past ...

143
Album Review

Frank Tiberi: Tiberian Mode

Read "Tiberian Mode" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Better late than never. Although Frank Tiberi’s stature among his fellow musicians approaches legendary, it took a Woody Herman alumnus (John Nugent) with his own record company to appreciate the benefits of bringing the present leader of the Herman Herd into a studio to document his prodigious talents. And while doing so, to invite two of Tiberi’s ardent admirers and former “students,” saxophonists Joe Lovano and George Garzone, to take part in the session. Lovano and Garzone are graduates of ...

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116

Performance / Tour

Firehouse 12 to Present Andy Laverne's One of a Kind Trio This Friday 4/25

Firehouse 12 to Present Andy Laverne's One of a Kind Trio This Friday 4/25

Source: Improvised Communications

On Friday, April 25th, Firehouse 12's ongoing 2008 Spring Jazz Series will present a two-set performance by Andy LaVerne's One Of A Kind. This unusual trio, led by veteran pianist/composer Andy LaVerne, features organist Brian Charette (sitting in on this gig for trio regular Gary Versace) and drummer Anthony Pinciotti. The group performs a mix of distinctively arranged standards and a growing book of LaVerne's originals, including those heard on its third and most recent recording, Intelligent Design (SteepleChase).

Critics ...

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Empathy

Self Produced
2023

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Intelligent Design

SteepleChase Records
2007

buy

All Ways

CBS/Sony
2005

buy

Shades Of Light

SteepleChase Records
2002

buy

Know More

CBS/Sony
2001

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