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Kenny Werner has been a world class pianist and composer for over 40 years and is the author of the landmark book Effortless Mastery: Liberating The Master Musician Within. The New York Times has called him a “virtuoso,” the Boston Phoenix has called him “an extraordinary gifted artist,” and his prolific compositions and recordings have won National Endowment for the Arts grants, a Grammy Award nomination and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Edward Simon, a native of Venezuela, has made a name for himself over decades in America as a jazz improviser, composer-arranger and band leader, with his profile heightening in recent years as he has explored the commonalities jazz can have with the folkloric sounds of Latin America.

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“A first-call accompanist and collaborator for the vocal elite, and a conceptualist who's crafted smartly arranged musical love letters to everything from steampunk sci-fi to the City of Los Angeles as part of his ongoing Discovery Project, Nelson is a creative force to be reckoned with.” –Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz

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Lynne Arriale, piano
Alon Near, bass
Alon Benjamini, drums

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Hard bop pianist Benny Green – who has played with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, the Freddie Hubbard Quintet, and the Ray Brown Trio – returns to the piano store for an evening of solo piano that will include standards and originals.

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Documentary Screening and Solo Performance

Join us for a special night of the Bay Area debut of Omar Sosa's 88 Well-Tuned Drums, a feature-length documentary on the life and music of Cuban-born pianist, composer, and multiple Grammy-nominee Omar Sosa. The film follows Omar's story from early childhood and conservatory education as a percussionist in Cuba, military service in Angola, a stint in Ecuador writing commercial jingles, and his fateful move to San Francisco. The screening will be followed by a solo performance not to be missed!

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Internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Taylor Eigsti returns to the piano store for a rare solo performance, just off the heels of winning a 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for his latest album Plot Armor.

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with Jeremy Cohen and Quartet San Francisco

This concert is a world premiere of a number of works written by Bill Cunliffe for violinist Jeremy Cohen and the Quartet San Francisco.  Bill has had a long relationship with Jeremy, having performed with him a number of times at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles in the ’90’s and ’00’s. These new pieces are for string quartet and piano, and all feature jazz improvisation, both by Bill and members of the quartet.  Works performed include pieces composed by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, two of Bill’s main musical influences. 

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Celebrate the release of Dust (E2/ Edition Records), the new solo piano album by Grammy®-nominated pianist and composer Romain Collin. Collin, who has been praised by NPR as a "visionary composer" and hailed by the Boston Globe as one of the "leading lights of a new breed of jazz players", will perform originals, as well as covers, with his unique and emotive pianistic approach. This special live performance coincides with the opening of an art exhibition at Oakland's Fourth Wall Gallery. This art show, conceived in collaboration with filmmaker Matthew Palmer, was created as a complement to the music of Dust. While the gallery show features 11 music films shot in the California desert, this intimate solo piano concert focuses on the music. Limited-edition vinyl copies of Dust will be available for purchase at the event. 

Larry Vuckovich celebrates his 88th birthday playing the 88 keys Fazioli concert grand on his actual birthday! He will be playing with his favorite guitarist, Kai Lyons. For the last number of years Kai has become the hottest guitarist in the Bay Area. Larry and Kai have been regularly expanding their diverse/wide-ranging repertoire – unmatched in the jazz arena. Besides the great jazz classics of top composers, their repertoire covers seldom heard standards, great Latin/Brazilian pieces, World Music gems, and as always funky, boogaloo blues selections. Additionally, they present special jazz vocals of rarely heard selections. Don’t miss this special event!

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Pianist Tamir Hendelman returns to the piano store for a solo program of standards, originals and compositions by jazz masters. Known for his lyrical tone, sense of swing, dynamic range and imaginative re-conceptions of jazz standards, Tamir brings spontaneity and nuanced musical storytelling to his solo concerts. Join him for this program filled with gems from the Great American Songbook, the jazz canon and his own fertile imagination.

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From bop, to stride, to swing, to blues, the Larry Fuller Trio returns to the piano store!  Larry Fuller is an internationally acclaimed jazz pianist known to ‘swing like a beast.’  He is a Yamaha artist.  Direct from NYC, Fuller brings his Trio, with Lorin Cohen on bass and Carmen Intorre, Jr., on drums.  Don’t miss this top-notch jazz trio while they’re in the Bay Area!

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Joe Alterman presents 'Happy Serious Music - According to Ramsey Lewis,' an unforgettable evening of music that will “surely make people smile and, if the room is right, dance.” (Nat Hentoff, The Wall Street Journal) Drawing inspiration from legendary jazz and “happy sounding” pianists Ramsey Lewis, Les McCann, and more, Alterman will take you on a journey, weaving joyful music inspired by these greats with fascinating, enlightening, and personal stories about these legends and his special relationships with many of them.

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Internationally acclaimed French-Malagasy pianist Mathis Picard returns to the piano store for an exciting evening of solo piano music. Stride, Swing, Preludes & Fugues connects the dots of different piano compositions across musical eras, painting a full picture of the history of the piano. Showcasing sounds from Harlem Stride and American Swing to European classical music, Picard will also share selections from his latest original work, “Preludes & Fugues: Book I,” a set of 12 compositions that reinterprets one of solo piano’s most beloved compositional formats.

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Art Lande’s solo piano concerts are rare, special occasions and personal offerings of everything he has to give. This Artful evening will be a journey through loosely charted territory with plenty of side road jaunts and unscripted excursions where captivating characters, places, and events co-mingle. The audience will hear some jazz, his own compositions, improvisation, spoken word, and anything that touches his heart in the space in the moment.

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Carmen Staaf explores the connections between compositions by Mary Lou Williams and well-known pieces by Thelonious Monk, who was mentored by Williams along with many of his bebop-era contemporaries. Carmen will be joined by Bay Area drummer Hamir Atwal. They’ll find new pathways into Williams and Monk, as well as the common ground between them. This special show is a live sneak preview of the project before they head into the studio the following day. Don't miss it!

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Ethan Iverson made history with the Bad Plus, and is now currently signed to Blue Note where he is part the storied label’s roster of cutting-edge artist. However, Iverson also considers the long game. Time Out New York selected Iverson as one of 25 essential New York jazz icons: “Perhaps NYC’s most thoughtful and passionate student of jazz tradition—the most admirable sort of artist-scholar.” For this event, Iverson will demonstrate a wide range of jazz piano styles and show how he brings the past to the future.

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arranger, educator, and recording artist George Cables has been performing as a bandleader and sideman for many years, along with the best the jazz world has to offer. Known for his own compositions as well as his creative interpretations of the standards, his repertoire is as varied as it is fun and engaging. Debuting at the piano store as a bandleader, he’ll be joined by Essiet Essiet (bass) and Jerome Jennings (drums).  The trio’s most recent recordings are on HighNote Records with a new release scheduled for this Fall.

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Descended from a lineage of musical greats, Marc Cary takes the stage for an evening of solo piano exploration. A cornerstone of the post-bop movement, Cary's virtuosity transcends genres, weaving together elements of jazz, world, and soul music. Be prepared to be surprised, delighted, and immersed as you float, dance and groove to the boundless creativity of Marc Cary. 

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Laurence Hobgood and Matthew Szemela first connected around 10 years ago; kindred musical spirits, they quickly realized an intuitively rare and potent connection, a mellifluous symbiosis in terms of how they’re able to listen to and play off of one another. Both virtuosos, both deeply invested in music as a conveyor of jubilance, reflection, humor, reverence — their interactions are an exciting and sometimes surprising paean to true musical expressionism — not to be missed!

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Shelly Berg, multi-Grammy nominated pianist and arranger, has performed, recorded, and arranged for renowned jazz vocalists and has collaborated with a "Who's Who" of jazz legends. He makes his debut at Piedmont Piano Company with his all-star trio featuring Chick Corea veterans Carlitos Del Puerto, bass and Gary Novak, drums.

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A select member of jazz’s piano pantheon, Fred Hersch celebrates the release of his solo piano album, Silent, Listening, an important contribution to ECM’s line of innovative solo piano recordings. It finds him putting a poetic emphasis on alert, open improvisation while also embracing original compositions and a scattering of standard tunes in his album’s graceful creative arc. Interspersing songs and spontaneously composed pieces, Hersch shapes and sustains a musical atmosphere that he describes as “nocturnal," an atmosphere of heightened sensitivity to sound.

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Internationally known pianist, composer, improviser, drummer and educator Art Lande returns to the piano store with Paul McCandless, Mark Miller, Peter Barshay, and Dillon Vado for a special artful evening of improvised music.

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TWO SHOWS 5:30pm / 8pm

Benny Green returns to the piano store with an evening of solo piano with standards and originals, including selections from his most recent album, Solo, recorded in Oakland in 2022.

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GRAMMY Award-winning pianist Sullivan Fortner brings his trio – with bassist Tyrone Allen II and drummer Kayvon Gordon – to the piano store, as part of his West Coast Tour, playing music from his new double-album Release, Solo Game. “Solo” mixes humility, maturity and audacity in respecting the great tradition of the solo piano, while “Game” develops a magical, playful universe from a multitude of keyboards and electronic effects.

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“A first-call accompanist and collaborator for the vocal elite, and a conceptualist who's crafted smartly arranged musical love letters to everything from steampunk sci-fi to the City of Los Angeles as part of his ongoing Discovery Project, Nelson is a creative force to be reckoned with.” –Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz

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with Erin Bode

GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist Taylor Eigsti returns to the piano store for the holiday season, this time with a brand new duo project featuring the brilliant Nashville-based vocalist Erin Bode. This special program will include brand new co-written selections from their current collaboration, along with everything from jazz standards to pieces to celebrate the Holiday Season.zz

2-time Grammy winning pianist Alan Broadbent and legendary bassist Harvie S return to the piano store for an evening of standards and some originals they have recorded together. After decades of playing many duo gigs together, they seem to read each others minds. “Their impromptu style, avoiding written arrangements and even rehearsals, succeeds because they are like-minded and share the same unwritten musical maxims.” –Betsy Reed, Guardian USA

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“As a classical-turned-jazz artist, one of the things I have come to love the most about this American art form is its generous, communal heart: this is music made together, played together, and enjoyed together.”

Jazz Piano Masters Series

Michael Wolff returns to Piedmont Piano Company for a gorgeous evening of jazz. Michael will also be reading excerpts from his best-selling memoir, On That Note!!