Home » Jazz Musicians » Jason Moran

Jason Moran

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole.

In almost every category that matters—improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation—Moran, and his group The Bandwagon— with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits— have challenged the status quo, and earned the reputation as "the future of jazz."

Frequently influenced by the wider world of art as his muse, Moran has found inspiration in edgy 20th century painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat (check out "JAMO Meets SAMO" from Soundtrack to Human Motion, as well as his ongoing series of "Gangsterism" compositions); Egon Schiele (whose painting "Facing Left" provided the eponymous title to Moran's second album); and Robert Rauschenberg, whose chaotic refinement inspired Moran's third album Black Stars, featuring the legendary Sam Rivers.

Moran is currently preparing for the release of TEN, his 10th anniversary album with The Bandwagon, on June 22, 2010. The trailblazing trio has proven to be one of the most enduring and creative piano trios in jazz today. TEN represents their most assured and focused album to date.

Moran's debut recording as a leader, Soundtrack to Human Motion, was released in 1999 to great critical praise. Ben Ratliff of The New York Times named it the best album of the year and the Jazz Journalists Association awarded it "Best Debut Recording." The following year, Facing Left, established The Bandwagon trio with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits, and prompted JazzTimes Magazine to declare the album "an instant classic." Moran augmented the trio for his third Blue Note release, Black Stars, adding avant-garde icon Sam Rivers, who plays saxophone, flute and piano on the recording. Gary Giddins of the Village Voice exclaimed, "Black Stars is possibly a Blue Note benchmark, definitely one of 2000's outstanding discs."

In 2002, Moran released his universally acclaimed solo piano disc Modernistic, prompting the Cork (Ireland) Jazz Festival to award him the 2002 Guinness Rising Star Award. Preeminent jazz critic Gary Giddins proclaimed it "a benchmark achievement and a profound illustration of his capacity to combine classicism and maverick innovation."

2003's release The Bandwagon, culled from the trio's six- day stint at New York's Village Vanguard, earned the team of Moran-Mateen-Waits a title as "the best new rhythm section in jazz! —NY Times." The Jazz Journalists Association awarded Moran with the "Up-n-Coming Jazz Musician" of 2003. Moran topped The Downbeat Critics Poll in three categories in 2003 and 2004—Rising Star Jazz Artist, Rising Star Pianist, Rising Star Composer.

Read more

Tags

26
Album Review

Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow

Read "The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


For a long, grateful while now the music of Charles Lloyd has rippled out from that rarified space where the ego does not prevail. A pool of depth and wonder which culminates in one masterful artwork after another, for example Wild Man Dance (Blue Note, 2015) and 8: Kindred Spirits Live from the Lobero Theater (Blue Note, 2019). Lloyd's eleventh Blue Note album, the double disc set  The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow is also his first ...

1
Album Review

BlankFor.ms: Refract

Read "Refract" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Uscito il primo settembre, nove mesi dopo From the Dancehall to the Battlefield, lo splendido lavoro dedicato a James Reese Europe, questo Refract illustra l'altra faccia di un autore geniale e poliedrico qual è Jason Moran. Di fatto diretto da BlankFor.ms, alias Tyler Gilmore, artista elettronico già allievo di Moran che usa nastri degradati e sintetizzatori analogici per produrre “musica emotiva," il disco sviluppa un'originalissima e assai variegata integrazione elettroacustica, mettendo materiali elettronici predeterminati a disposizione del pianista e del ...

Album Review

Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield

Read "From the Dancehall to the Battlefield" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Uscito il primo gennaio 2023 su Bandcamp, questo album di Jason Moran, per il suo concept, per la varietà e la ricchezza, per il modo in cui fonde radici storiche e modernità è probabilmente da considerare il disco dell'anno. Il suggestivo titolo From the Dancehall to the Battlefield sintetizza la storia del mitico musicista a cui è dedicato: James Reese Europe, compositore, arrangiatore e direttore d'orchestra nero, nato a Mobile, in Alabama, nel 1881, e trasferitosi prima a ...

25
Album Review

BlankFor.ms - Jason Moran - Marcus Gilmore: Refract

Read "Refract" reviewed by Pat Youngspiel


Electroacoustic music gains a new modern perspective with the sonic marvel that is Refract, a collaborative effort between degraded tapes artist Tyler Gilmore, aka BlankFor.ms, pianist Jason Moran and Marcus Gilmore on drums. An experimental series of sketched shapes featuring hovering loops turned sound- blankets, drum-set turned beat-machine and piano turned keyboard-impressionism, Refract's largely improvised fabric makes for one of the year's most adventurous and intriguing listens. Recorded with producer Sun Chung, the sonic properties are a focal ...

16
Album Review

Jason Moran: The Sound Will Tell You

Read "The Sound Will Tell You" reviewed by Mark F. Turner


Jazz pianist Jason Moran has occupied numerous spaces in his esteemed career: bandleader, film-scorer, visual arts, MacArthur fellow and Kennedy Center Artistic Director. Yet the area which showcases his most lucid gift is illuminated in his performance. Like a painter with a fresh canvas, Moran uses his piano to illustrate colors, moods and ideas at the whim of his creativity. His third solo piano release is no exception. Recorded over two days in January 2021, The Sound Will ...

7
Radio & Podcasts

Best Jazz Ghost Tracks and Other Spectral Jazz, Part 2

Read "Best Jazz Ghost Tracks and Other Spectral Jazz, Part 2" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


We continue our exploration of great tunes that--for a reason or another--were concealed to great effect but also never received the attention they deserved. We'll try to remedy that focusing on ghost-tracks, and other ghostly jazz. We were supposed to select ten tunes... but there were at least thirteen more, plus a couple more ghost-related tunes. Like on part 1 of this special, you can click on the embedded player to listen, look at the playlist below to ...

Album Review

Ron Miles: Rainbow Sign

Read "Rainbow Sign" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Per il suo esordio su etichetta Blue Note, il trombettista Ron Miles riunisce nuovamente il quintetto stellare con cui aveva inciso il precedente I Am a Man, Bill Frisell alla chitarra, Brian Blade alla batteria, Jason Moran al piano e Thomas Morgan al contrabbasso. Il gruppo era a sua volta l'evoluzione di un trio con Frisell e Blade che aveva già realizzato due album, Quiver e Circuit Rider, per non parlare di Heaven in duo con Frisell oltre alle numerose ...

Read more articles
1

Event

Celebrity Series Of Boston Announces 2022/23 Season

Celebrity Series Of Boston Announces 2022/23 Season

Source: Stephanie Janes PR

The Celebrity Series of Boston announces its 2022/23 season today, marking 84 years of bringing touring and local performing artists to Boston. In this new season, audiences will find a diverse and dazzling array of artists in one of the Series’ largest seasons ever. Expanded programming offers audiences new venues to explore, artist debuts, beloved returning artists, and in-person and streaming options for both the ticketed and free Neighborhood Arts events. With classical music and contemporary/jazz curated by guest programmers ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Jason Moran's birthday today!

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole. In almost every category that matters—improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation—Moran, and his group The Bandwagon— with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Jason Moran's birthday today!

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole. In almost every category that matters—improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation—Moran, and his group The Bandwagon— with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Jason Moran's birthday today!

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole. In almost every category that matters—improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation—Moran, and his group The Bandwagon— with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Jason Moran's birthday today!

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole. In almost every category that matters—improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation—Moran... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on your ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Jason Moran's birthday today!

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole. In almost every category that matters—improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation—Moran... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on your ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Jason Moran's birthday today!

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole. In almost every category that matters—improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation—Moran... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on your ...

2

Performance / Tour

NEC Faculty Member Jason Moran Led A Performance Of "The Music Of Andrew Hill"

NEC Faculty Member Jason Moran Led A Performance Of "The Music Of Andrew Hill"

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

As the culmination of one of his regular teaching residencies, NEC faculty member Jason Moran presented a performance of the music of his mentor Andrew Hill in a concert titled simply “The Music of Andrew Hill" on Thursday, January 28. Moran led NEC students in the re-imagining of Hill's music, including material drawn from several landmark albums. The concert took three different approaches to the world of Andrew Hill. Interspersed through the evening, four pianists took on songs dating from ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jason Moran

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Jason Moran's birthday today!

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole. In almost every category that matters—improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation—Moran... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on your ...

1

Education

Music Education Monday: A master class with Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer

Music Education Monday: A master class with Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

In addition to being two of the top pianists in contemporary jazz, both Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer are past winners of much-coveted MacArthur Fellowships (aka “the genius grant"), and both have developed accompanying reputations as deep thinkers. For this week's “Music Education Monday," here's a small window into the minds of both men, via a video of a joint masterclass they did in September 2014 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Moran is a member of ...

"Although he has the facility to play with breathtaking fleetness, his uniqueness traces to his refusal to be locked into predictable, bebop-based patterns." —The Los Angeles Times

"Moran is like no other pianist at work. His improvisations are dynamic, eruptive, keyed to the compositions at hand." —Village Voice

"When Jason Moran performs with his trio, Bandwagon, these days, he engages in a ritual that befits one of the most independent minds now working in jazz." —The New York Times

"Of course, countless other jazz musicians have tried to reinvent eras past, including the elliptical 1960s, with varying degrees of success. But it's Moran's writing, the bane of so many a young pyrotechnic lions, that separates him." —Newsweek

Read more

Matthew Whitaker
organ, Hammond B3
The Westerlies
band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Sky Will Still Be...

Blue Note Records
2024

buy

Refract

Red Hook Records
2023

buy

Bangs

Yes Records
2022

buy

Let My People Go

Archie Ball Records
2021

buy

The Sound Will Tell...

Self Produced
2021

buy

Supersense

From: Supersense
By Jason Moran

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.