Home » Jazz Musicians » John Chin

John Chin

John Chin has been a fixture on the New York jazz scene since 1998 and was introduced to the piano at age four. He began studying jazz at California State University, which he attended at the age of fourteen as part of the Early Entrance Program for Gifted Students. Upon receiving his B.A. in Music at nineteen, Chin continued his musical studies at the University of North Texas, before pursuing a Masters of Music degree from Rutgers University (under the tutelage of master pianist and composer Kenny Barron), and an Artist Diploma from the world-renowned Juilliard School. His extensive experience in the classroom would lay the foundation for his own pedagogy; his experience and reputation have led to teaching opportunities the world over, while helping to sustain a New York studio of his own, located in Brooklyn's history-rich Prospect Park. John has performed internationally as a leader and sideman, at many major festivals, as well as some of America's most important and storied jazz rooms. He has shared the stage with Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jaimeo Brown, gregory tardy, Mark Turner, Dayna Stephens, Joel Frahm, John Ellis, Chris Cheek, and Ari Hoenig, among many others. Chin is a prolific composer, drawing inspiration from the jazz, pop, and western classical traditions, with four releases as a leader to-date: 2008's Blackout Conception, 2014's piano trio recording Undercover, 2015's Songs After Hours, a collection of pieces by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison, and his latest, Fifth, an evolution in his musical development. As a pianist for vocalist Rene Marie, Chin was nominated for a Grammy for his work on her release, Sound Of Red in 2017.

Tags

5
Album Review

Reggie Quinerly: New York Nowhere

Read "New York Nowhere" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Born in Houston, drummer Reggie Quinerly attended his hometown's famous High School of the Performing and Visual Arts. He then moved on to study under such masters as Jimmy Cobb, Lewis Nash, and Kenny Washington in the Masters in Jazz Studies program at Juilliard, and released his debut recording, Music Inspired by Freedmantown (Self Produced, 2012) soon after graduating. Quinerly composed New York Nowhere, his fourth release as a leader, as his farewell to the city he called ...

3
Album Review

Svetlana Shmulyian: Night at the Movies

Read "Night at the Movies" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Svetlana Shmulyian is a gift that keeps on giving. The Russian-American emigre made her recording debut with Night at the Speakeasy (AO2 Records, 2016), where she infused the Great American Songbook's early canon with an Eastern essence of determination and intelligence. The singer followed that with her survey of film music Night at the Movies (Starr Records, 2020). Then the pandemic emerged, changing everything in the musical performance landscape. Shmulyian responded by surprising listeners with an outtake from ...

4
Album Review

Svetlana Shmulyian: Night at the Movies

Read "Night at the Movies" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Russian-American singer Svetlana Shmulyian has blended an East Europe/Russia combination of elegant determination and delicate grit into the American Songbook on her debut recording Night at the Speakeasy (AO2 Records, 2016), and then film music on Night at the Movies (Starr Records, 2020). The artist surprised listeners by dropping an outtake from Night at the Movies, “Young and Beautiful" from The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros., 2013) in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. “Young and Beautiful" was ...

3
Album Review

Svetlana: Night at the Movies

Read "Night at the Movies" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Russian-American singer-composer Svetlana (she has a last name, Schmulyian, but prefers the monomoniker) is onto something. Her debut recording, Night at the Speakeasy (OA2 Records, 2016) with her self-appointed Delancey Five, was a structured affair which concentrated on the music of the “Jazz Age" (save for the Beach Boys' “God Only Knows") performed in a Jazz Age fashion, featuring trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. Svetlana returns with another themed recording, Night At the Movies, again featuring Gordon, on a collection of film ...

Album Review

John Chin: Undercover

Read "Undercover" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Nato in Corea quasi quarant'anni fa, cresciuto a Los Angeles e dal 1998 operante a New York, John Chin pubblica il secondo disco documentando il suo trio del 2010 con una registrazione a cui teneva molto: galvanizzata da una serie di concerti, la formazione ha inciso di getto usando lo studio come un club, senza prove, né uso di cuffie e successivi lavori di editing. Dopo una formazione classica iniziata a 4 anni, il pianista ha iniziato a ...

174
Album Review

John Chin: Blackout Conception

Read "Blackout Conception" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


John Chin is another new piano face, rightly placed on Fresh Sound's New Talent division. Born in Seoul, South Korea, but educated in California at Cal State and then the University of North Texas, he then relocated to New York to study with pianist Kenny Barron at Rutgers University in New Jersey. A major portion of Blackout Conception is influenced and dedicated to the Philadelphia pianist.

In a baseball setting Chin Music refers to a brushback pitch intended ...

123
Album Review

John Chin: Blackout Conception

Read "Blackout Conception" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


Pianist John Chin's debut, Blackout Conception, demonstrates his affinity to highly melodic, song-like compositions. The 32 year-old Chin was born in Seoul, South Korea but grew up in Los Angeles, where he began to study classical piano. Chen graduated from California State University when he was 19, with a BA in music, attended the University of North Texas and than relocated to the American east coast to study with his mentor, veteran pianist Kenny Barron, at Rutgers University in New ...

Read more articles
1

Recording

John Chin: Anything Mose!

John Chin: Anything Mose!

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

I loved interviewing pianist Mose Allison for The Wall Street Journal and for JazzWax in 2010. Mose was a singular artist with a wry sense of humor and a rich, home-grown keyboard style who understood rural wisdom and suffering. Mose relocated to New York from Mississippi in the mid-1950s, and by the early 1960s, he had parlayed his piano's bluesy jaggedness and clever, aw-shucks lyric-writing into a soft storm of rural wit, swaggering riffs and howling vocals. In conversation, Mose ...

1

Recording

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records Releases New Recordings From: Rob Garcia, John Chin & Gianni Gagliardi

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records Releases New Recordings From: Rob Garcia, John Chin & Gianni Gagliardi

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

BROOKLYN JAZZ UNDERGROUND RECORDS Releases New Recordings From: ROB GARCIA, JOHN CHIN & GIANNI GAGLIARDI Available TODAY, May 27, 2014 BJURecords CD Release Celebrations: ROB GARCIA: May 31, Toronto, Canada @The Rex June 1 - Rochester, NY @Lovin' Cup June 4 - Boston, MA @The Bee Hive June 5 - Cambridge, MA @Beat Hotel June 19 - NYC @The Cornelia Street Cafe July 10 - Old Lyme, CT @The Side ...

Recording

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records To Release New Recordings From: Rob Garcia, John Chin & Gianni Gagliardi

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records  To Release New Recordings From: Rob Garcia, John Chin & Gianni Gagliardi

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

"Brooklyn jazz is happening and those who venture across the bridge will be delighted by the hard-edged ethnically-flavored jazz that they find on the other side." —All About Jazz “...The spirit of the organization is firmly rooted in Brooklyn. All of the members reside there, and they wanted to give a nod to the vitality of its scene." —The Wall Street Journal BROOKLYN JAZZ UNDERGROUND RECORDS To Release New Recordings From: ROB GARCIA, JOHN CHIN & ...

"This CD is my definition of 'mainstream.' There's conception, ideas, horn lines, intellectual solos, feeling, interpretation as well as gainful melodic & harmonically viable improvisation contained therein. Also, may I pay tribute to Chin's composing efforts which are included which are compelling to say the least. Chin's piano delivery is stellar in that he is adept at intricate & outstanding musical contexts that relate to his sure sense of rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic brinkmanship. Both John & his group are to be considered powerful, skilled, & appealingly genuine, & any recognition that this present project creates I assure my readers is fully deserved."

Read more

Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

New York Nowhere

Redefinition Music
2021

buy

Anything Mose!

‎Jinsy Music
2021

buy

Night at the Movies

Starr Records
2019

buy

Undercover

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records
2015

buy

Blackout Conception

Fresh Sound Records
2008

buy

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

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