Bradley Sowash is a composer, creative pianist, multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, author, and educator specializing in improvisation. He has performed in every imaginable setting from living rooms, churches and jazz clubs to major concert venues both here and abroad for over thirty years. His broadcast credits include seven seasons of appearances on the PBS-TV series, The Piano Guy, and National Public Radio has aired selections from his nine CDs
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Bradley Sowash is a composer, creative pianist, multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, author, and educator specializing in improvisation. He has performed in every imaginable setting from living rooms, churches and jazz clubs to major concert venues both here and abroad for over thirty years. His broadcast credits include seven seasons of appearances on the PBS-TV series, The Piano Guy, and National Public Radio has aired selections from his nine CDs. He teaches master classes nationwide and co-founded 88 Creative Key Workshops and Webinars with Leila Viss. The Neil A. Kjos Music Company publishes his widely acclaimed keyboard improvisation books and Augsburg Fortress Press has published several volumes of his hymn arrangements. He also writes a column about improvisation for Clavier Companion and self-publishes works for ballet, big band, choir, film, orchestra, solo piano and string quartet.
Awards
In 1999, he was the featured artist at the Arts Midwest 15-state regional
conference in Cleveland, Ohio. He is listed in John Schaefer's book, New
Sounds: A Listener's Guide to New Music and in Katherine Teck's
Movement to Music. Sowash has received numerous grants from the Ohio
Arts Council as well as from the New York State Council on the Arts, the
Hazelbaker Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and the New York
Foundation for the Arts.
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CD/LP/Track Review
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He can really move an audience along with zest and wit. - Billboard
Magazine
Sowash's music powerfully conjures the moods. - Village Voice
Bradley Sowash is quite simply one of the best pianists on the contemporary
scene. - Solo Piano Publications
Primary Instrument
Piano
Location
Columbus, OH
Willing to teach
Intermediate to advanced students
Credentials/Background
Want to have more fun playing or teaching piano?
Learn to “do your own thing” with Pop, Blues, and Jazz standards.
These are interactive “live” group lessons, not pre-produced videos.
Watch replay videos of lessons you miss or want to review on YouTube (group
lessons only).
8-week terms have clear pre-set topics, tunes, and takeaways.
No long-longterm commitment.
75-minute “one-hour” classes include a 15 minute buffer to allow for potential tech
glitches that are inherent to the internet and a “softer” end point.
Multiple angles: see instructor’s face, piano keys, and instant notated examples.
Opt for active participation on or watch passively off camera (group lessons only).
Share videos and network with fellow participants in a private Facebook group.
Clinic/Workshop Information
Read more
Primary Instrument
Piano
Location
Columbus, OH
Willing to teach
Intermediate to advanced students
Credentials/Background
Want to have more fun playing or teaching piano?
Learn to “do your own thing” with Pop, Blues, and Jazz standards.
These are interactive “live” group lessons, not pre-produced videos.
Watch replay videos of lessons you miss or want to review on YouTube (group
lessons only).
8-week terms have clear pre-set topics, tunes, and takeaways.
No long-longterm commitment.
75-minute “one-hour” classes include a 15 minute buffer to allow for potential tech
glitches that are inherent to the internet and a “softer” end point.
Multiple angles: see instructor’s face, piano keys, and instant notated examples.
Opt for active participation on or watch passively off camera (group lessons only).
Share videos and network with fellow participants in a private Facebook group.
Clinic/Workshop Information
1. That’s Jazz Student Master Class
Do your students use the That’s Jazz books? Arrange a Bradley Sowash festival and
give your students the thrill of learning directly from a leader in modern creative
piano pedagogy.
Students prepare 2 pieces at their level from one of Bradley Sowash’s “That’s Jazz”
Method, Performance or Christmas books.
Bradley Sowash offers students brief personalized coaching on their chosen pieces,
in public.
A written evaluation of each performance is provided.
Students are motivated to prepare by the opportunity to meet the composer, take
pictures, get autographs, etc.4th grader
The best masterclass students and Improvisation groups are invited to perform in a
non-competitive public concert
Bradley Sowash “jams” along on a second piano with the students playing solo
pieces.
The event concludes with Bradley Sowash then performing a short solo piano
concert. His rare combination of improvisational virtuosity and accessible jazz has
delighted listeners both here and abroad for over 30 years.
2. Improvising is for Everyone (all instruments)
Eye players read music. Ear players improvise. To play contemporary music,
students need experience in both yet improvisation is often missing from their
curriculum. Rather than feel limited to reproducing the notes on the page, Sowash
helps students understand how they came to be there in the first place by tapping
into their creative music-making impulses.
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