LIVE at Piedmont Piano Company
JAZZ PIANO MASTERS SERIES
Jeff Gardner
with Ricardo Peixoto
Virtuoso pianist-composer Jeff Gardner will make his Bay Area concert debut in a two-part concert. The first half will feature his compositions mixing Brazilian rhythms, Contemporary Classical Music, Blues, and Jazz. In the second half Jeff will invite premier Brazilian guitarist Ricardo Peixoto for their first concert as a duo for a program of Brazilian Jazz including bossa, samba, baião, and chorinho.
$25 General Admission
We are offering a limited number of tickets to attend this performance in person. Advance purchase is required. COVID-19 SAFETY: All ticket holders must wear a mask while inside the piano store.
JEFF GARDNER
Jeff Gardner was born in New York and has lived in Brazil for the past 20 years. He studied jazz with Jaki Byard, Charles Banacos, Don Friedman, and John Lewis, classical piano with Ruth Schontal and Ivan Tcherepnin, and harmony with Nadia Boulanger. He has performed with Kenny Wheeler, Gary Peacock, Norma Winstone, Ndugu Chancler, Tony Dagradi, Johnny Vidocavich, Rick Margitza, Rosana Eckert, Eddie Harris, Steve Lacy, Freddie Hubbard, Julio Barreto, Anga Dias, Hein Van de Geyn, Karim Ziad, Bob Sheppard, Paulo Moura, Victor Assis Brasil, Nelson Veras, Leny Andrade, Robert Bonisolo, Toninho Horta, Drew Gress, Anthony Pinciotti, and the Piano Quartet with Martial Solal, Jaki Byard, and Paul Bley. Jeff has played in clubs and festivals on 5 continents with his own band and as a solo artist, performing his compositions - a mix of Brazilian and Latin rhythms with jazz and contemporary classical music. His latest CD is a compilation – “Stories”. Active in Jazz Education, Jeff is the author of 20 books on Jazz, Blues, and Popular Music, including the 500 page method book Jazz Piano: Creative Concepts and Techmiques, and has given workshops in over 100 schools and universities worldwide.
RICARDO PEIXOTO
Born in Rio de Janeiro, guitarist, composer, and arranger Ricardo Peixoto came to the U.S. by way of a scholarship to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, and later settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. His fluid melodic sense and original harmonic approach place him among the top representatives of Brazilian guitar in the U.S. today. An inspired improviser with a keen compositional sense, Ricardo’s unique and eloquent style evokes images far beyond his Brazilian territory.
As a composer grounded both in the jazz and Brazilian music traditions Ricardo has continued to explore Brazil’s rich melodies, sophisticated harmonies and rhythms, while integrating them with the freedom and improvisational approach of jazz.
Ricardo has recorded, performed, and collaborated with, Claudia Villela, Flora Purim and Airto, saxophonist Bud Shank, percussionist Dom Um Romão, Sivuca, Claudio Roditi, Raul de Souza, Toots Thielemans, Dori Caymmi, Guinga, Arturo Sandoval, Spok, Jovino Santos Neto, Marcos Silv, Terra Sul, and the Berkeley Choro Ensemble. His compositions have been featured on “Inverse Universe” with vocalist Claudia Villela, “Kindness of Strangers” with Terra Sul, on Bud Shank’s “Tomorrow’s Rainbow,” and on the Berkeley Choro Ensemble’s ‘The View From Here’ among others. He has performed throughout the US, Europe, Canada, Japan and Brazil.
Ricardo teaches at the California Jazz Conservatory and has also been on faculty at Jazz Camp West and California Brazil Camp.