Pianist and composer Jason Moran has established himself as a risk-taker and trendsetter for new directions in jazz. Rolling Stone calls him “the most provocative thinker in current jazz.” It’s that incomparable talent and unyielding drive towards innovation that earned Moran a prestigious MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship and the title of Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz. Since 2000, Moran and his trio The Bandwagon (Tarus Mateen and Nasheet Waits) have dazzled audiences at elite venues worldwide. Moran has also performed with many acclaimed artists such as Charles Lloyd and Dave Holland, he composed a ballet for Alzonzo King LINES Ballet, conceived a jazz and skateboarding collaboration, wrote the film score for Selma, and paid homage to two legendary pianists in his Blue Note album, All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller, and his multimedia program, In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall 1959. A prolific composer, Moran released two albums in 2018 – Looks of a Lot, which was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Center, and Music for Joan Jonas, a collaboration with performance artist Joan Jonas containing excerpts from three of their major collaborations. The Los Angeles Times hails Moran, “a startlingly gifted pianist with a relentless thirst for experimentation.”
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HI-RES IMAGES
^ Photo Credit: Clay Patrick McBride
IN MY MIND
^ Artist: Glenn Ligon
BANDWAGON TRIO
^ Photo Credit: Clay Patrick McBride
VIDEO
In My Mind Preview: (Embed)
YoungArts Award Intro: (Embed/Download)
Jazzfest Bonn 2019: Jason Moran, “Wind” (Embed)
BIOGRAPHY/PROGRAM NOTES
Biography: Download (doc)
Fats Waller Program Notes: Download (doc)
Official Website: www.jasonmoran.com
CURRENT RELEASE
MASS {Howl, eon} (Nov 15th, 2017)
CURRENT BANDWAGON RELEASE
Thanksgiving at the Vanguard (April 1st, 2017)
PRESS REQUESTS
Louise Holland & Niki Gatos
louise@visionartsmgmt.com, niki@visionartsmgmt.com
Please contact IMN’s Director of Marketing with any additional questions.
Jason Moran Sends a New Valentine, “For Love”
From WGBO Jason Moran Sends a New Valentine, “For Love” By:NATE CHINEN “Among the many things Jason Moran has demonstrated over the last 20 years is this: the man knows his way around a love song. Not that they take up an outsize portion of his song catalog, which tends to focus on ideas, both concrete and abstract. But consider...
Posted Feb 14th, 2020
Pianist Jason Morans New Project Honors Forgotten Musical Legend
From Mercury News Pianist Jason Morans New Project Honors Forgotten Musical Legend By: ANDREW GILBERT “With a story marked by wartime heroism, sacrifice, show business savvy, artistic innovation, and an unspeakably tragic murder, James Reese Europe’s life contains every element required for a Hollywood epic. The African-American bandleader, composer and arranger navigated the transition from ragtime to jazz in the...
Posted Jan 17th, 2020
The Compton Herald on Jason Moran’s ‘Selma’ Score
From Compton Herald Film ‘Selma’ at Soraya a stark reminder By: DENISE MIMS THOMAS “Revisiting the epic film ‘Selma’ with a live score conducted by Che Che Alara of the New West Orchestra, alongside jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran, Feb 1, at the Soraya Performance Arts Center at California State University, Northridge; who would have thought in 2020, African...
Posted Jan 8th, 2020
Home Arts & Culture Celebrating Milestones, Keeping the Music Alive
From afro.com Celebrating Milestones, Keeping the Music Alive By: Micha Green “Twenty years ago Jason Moran’s jazz trio, The Bandwagon wowed audiences with their unique sound and artistic mash-ups, and for eight years the Kennedy Center’s jazz programming has been under his tutelage. With such a seasoned career in jazz, Moran, 44, took a moment to reflect on his music,...
Posted Oct 10th, 2019
Soaring jazz from Moran’s BANGS trio
From The Boston Globe Soaring jazz from Jason Moran’s BANGS trio at Sanders Theatre By: Bill Beuttler The Jason Moran set that World Music/CRASHarts brought to Sanders Theatre Sunday night, BANGS featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson and cornetist Ron Miles, was a rare live performance of what might be called chamber jazz from a 2017 Moran album of that name. And...
Posted Apr 9th, 2019
TIME Magazine: Shaping the Next Generation of Artists
From Time Magazine 12 Leaders Who Are Shaping the Next Generation of Artists By: Abigail Abrams, Wilder Davies, Mahita Gajanan, Rachel E. Greenspan, Cady Lang When we consume art’“get swept up in a film, meander through a museum, parse the lines of a poem’“we tend to direct our praise or criticism toward the artist who created the work. But behind...
Posted Feb 7th, 2019
Jason Moran at the Kennedy Center
From The Washington Post Today’s jazz world is teeming. Jason Moran is bringing it to the Kennedy Center. By: Chris Richards Very killer. That’s the best way to describe the jazz programming that the Kennedy Center has on the menu this spring, and there are at least two ways to explain the imminent lethality. The first is that today’s jazz...
Posted Jan 30th, 2019
James Reese Europe Honored
From The Washington Informer James Reese Europe Honored at Kennedy Center Concert By: Eve M Ferguson If the name James Reese Europe doesn’t strike a familiar chord, you may not be alone. But Jason Moran, artistic director for jazz at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, was determined to reintroduce and restore the name to its respectful and rightful...
Posted Dec 14th, 2018
A Sublime Tribute
From The Washington Post Jason Moran offers sublime tribute to WWI hero and ragtime pioneer James Reese Europe By: Michael J West We already know that Jason Moran is stunningly and profoundly original, even in his treatment of existing material. (His 2007 multimedia reimagining of Thelonious Monk’s Town Hall concert made it unstintingly clear.) Knowing it doesn’t prepare one for...
Posted Dec 10th, 2018
An Illuminated Eulogy For A Jazz Pioneer
From NPR A Century Later, An Illuminated Eulogy For A Jazz Pioneer By: Michelle Mercer For his multimedia tribute to jazz pioneer and war hero James Reese Europe, Jason Moran doesn’t wear his usual performance attire. His wife, the musician Alicia Hall Moran, had some ideas for a more meaningful costume. “She told me I needed to experience the same...
Posted Dec 6th, 2018
Jason Moran Honors Cecil Taylor
From WBGO Illuminating Cecil Taylor with Pianist Jason Moran, on The Checkout By: Simon Rentner […] Growing up in Houston, Moran got to know Taylor’s albums through his father’s record collection, where they occupied equal space next to Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. But Moran’s life changed after seeing Taylor in concert ‘” on a blocked-off street in SoHo, with...
Posted Apr 10th, 2018
Jazz’s Bleeding Edge Found in Tennessee
NPR Jazz’s Bleeding Edge? You Can Find It, Briefly, In Eastern Tennessee By: Nate Chinen Milford Graves and Jason Moran were listening hard at the Big Ears Festival on Friday evening, and in this they were far from alone. Their spontaneous musical dialogue, onstage at the elegant Bijou Theater in Knoxville, Tenn., suggested a merging of the ancient and the...
Posted Mar 28th, 2018
Slate Mag: Best Jazz Albums
From Slate Magazine The Best Jazz Albums of 2017 Jason Moran, MASS {Howl, eon} Jason Moran is the most inventive jazz pianist on the scene, and this is his most unusual album. The artist Julie Mehretu spent nearly a year painting two gigantic canvases in a converted church in Harlem (they’re now hanging at the San Francisco Museum of Modern...
Posted Dec 21st, 2017
Nate Chinen’s Top 10 Albums
From NPR Music Nate Chinen’s Top 10 (Actually 21) Albums Of 2017 By: Nate Chinen 4. Jason Moran, ‘BANGS’ (Tie) Tied here are two brilliant albums that landed slightly off the grid, with two-thirds of the same personnel: Ron Miles and guitarist Mary Halvorson, whose deep, odd-couple rapport warrants some kind of special citation. On BANGS, a Bandcamp release, Jason...
Posted Dec 14th, 2017
Jason Moran’s Vision For Change
From The Washington Post This Kennedy Center director is making performance art out of jazz. Can he bring fans along? By: Fred Kaplan In the ‘nation’s cultural center,’ one man pushes for change. On a warm evening this past May, Jason Moran ‘” pianist and artistic director for jazz at the Kennedy Center ‘” sauntered into a former Harlem church,...
Posted Nov 2nd, 2017
Jason Moran awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship
From Ford Foundation Ford Foundation awards 25 fellowships to US artists driving social change The Ford Foundation today announced 25 new Art of Change fellowships that will support visionary artists and cultural leaders in creating powerful works of art that help advance freedom, justice, and inclusion, and strengthen our democracy. Artists and cultural leaders have been at the forefront of...
Posted Oct 2nd, 2017
Houston’s Jazz Envoys Describe A Vibrant Scene Deluged, And Worry For Its Future
From NPR Music Houston’s Jazz Envoys Describe A Vibrant Scene Deluged, And Worry For Its Future By: Nate Chinen “I have maybe hundreds of family members in Houston,” said Moran, who among other things is the artistic director for jazz at the Kennedy Center. “Nearly all of them are, miraculously, OK. But I have so much concern about how the...
Posted Sep 1st, 2017
How the Newport Jazz Festival Reminded People to Dance
From Paste Magazine How the Newport Jazz Festival Reminded People to Dance By: Geoffrey Himes If we go back to Harlem in the 1930s, we find the great Fats Waller combining catchy, bouncy songs with digressive piano solos in the years just before bebop changed everything. Jason Moran, perhaps the most creative jazz musician of today, has gone back to...
Posted Aug 9th, 2017
Jason Moran Makes Record With High School Band
From Chicago Tribune Kenwood’s jazz band makes a record with Jason Moran By: Howard Reich The students hardly could believe it was happening. But, as promised, one of the most admired pianists in jazz ‘” MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran ‘” was about to cut a record with them. Last Thursday morning, Moran rushed directly from the airport to the recording...
Posted Jun 6th, 2017
Jason Moran: Artistic Director For JFK Center For Performing Arts
From The New York Times Kennedy Center’s New Jazz Season Includes Q-Tip and Local Artists By: Giovanni Russonello The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces the renewal of Jason Moran’s contract as the organization’s Artistic Director for Jazz. The coming season deepens Mr. Moran’s dedication to using jazz as a lens through which to explore the broader...
Posted Jun 1st, 2017
Jason Moran Honored By National YoungArts Foundation
From YoungArts MEET THE BACKYARD BALL HONOREES: JASON MORAN AND JESSICA LANG On Saturday, January 14, 2017, YoungArts will host its largest annual fundraiser, the Backyard Ball performance and gala, as the culmination of National YoungArts Week, from January 8 ‘” 15. The celebratory evening will welcome prominent artists and alumni, community leaders, philanthropists and celebrities to the YoungArts Campus...
Posted Jan 12th, 2017
Jason Moran: NYT Best of 2016
From The New York Times The Best Albums of 2016 3. JASON MORAN ‘The Armory Concert’ (Yes) A solo piano recital, but one that reverberates with echoes of collaboration. A clutch of terse provocations from a composer inclined to take the long view. A snapshot that ends up feeling like a panorama, irreducible and immersive. (Read the Critic’s Notebook). By:...
Posted Dec 7th, 2016
Detroit Jazz Fest Highlights
From Billboard Detroit Jazz Fest Day 3 Highlights: Jason Moran, John Scofield & More By: Natalie Weiner ‘What I realized this weekend is that jazz is musician’s music,’ said Rodney, a security guard at the Detroit Jazz Festival (and recent jazz convert), on Monday (Sept. 5) as the festival drew to a close. ‘That means it’s not about race —...
Posted Sep 9th, 2016
‘The Armory Concert’ by Jason Moran Review: Sitting Within Jazz
From The Wall Street Journal By Larry Blumenfeld ‘The Armory Concert’ by Jason Moran Review The Veterans Room of Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory, which opened in 1881 and reopened as newly restored in March, is a riot of color, visual rhythm and contrasting details. Fine patterns of wood and metal intersect and overlap. Depending on where one’s gaze is set,...
Posted Jul 20th, 2016
Beyond Country And Blues: The Jazz Legacy Of Houston
From NPR Music By NPR Staff The Jazz Legacy Of Houston Houston has also produced some of the biggest jazz musicians of today, according to the host of Jazz Night in America, composer and bassist Christian McBride. “It seems to me that over the last 15 to 20 years, there has been an onslaught of these great musicians from Houston...
Posted Jun 27th, 2016
Review: Jason Moran riffs on legacy of Fats Waller
From The Post and Courier Jason Moran riffs on legacy of Fats Waller On Saturday night, composer-pianist Jason Moran transformed the Cistern Yard into a classroom. His students were audience members, and his lesson was in the three Fs: Funk, Family and Fats. Moran presented the ‘Fats Waller Dance Party,’ wherein he and his four-piece band played selected tunes from...
Posted Jun 6th, 2016
Moran wants you to get up and dance to Waller tunes
From The Post and Courier By Lindsey O’Laughlin Moran wants you to get up and dance to Waller tunes Famed stride pianist and jazz innovator Fats Waller died in 1943, but tonight, Spoleto Festival patrons can sample a taste of his larger-than-life persona when composer-pianist Jason Moran presents the Fats Waller Dance Party. Moran and his four-piece band will play...
Posted Jun 4th, 2016
Jason Moran conjures up the spirit of Fats Waller and adds a house music spin
From Charleston City Paper By Kinsey Gidick Jason Moran conjures up the spirit of Fats Waller and adds a house music spin Here are eight words I thought I’d never write: Don’t let the papier-mÃ¥ché head fool you. That’s my tip when it comes to jazz pianist Jason Moran’s tribute show to Fats Waller. Yes, his performance may involve a...
Posted Jun 1st, 2016
A night of ‘Jason+’ includes Mason Bates and jazz stars
From The Washington Post A night of ‘Jason+’ includes Mason Bates and jazz stars By Michael J. West ‘Jason+,’ the Kennedy Center’s new series designed to place jazz pianist (and artistic adviser) Jason Moran into multidisciplinary contexts, may be a bit of a misnomer. That is, inasmuch as it suggests that Moran is the main event. But Saturday night’s affair,...
Posted Mar 7th, 2016
For Jazz Pianist Jason Moran, the Future of Jazz Includes Fats Waller
From Los Angeles Magazine For Jazz Pianist Jason Moran, the Future of Jazz Includes Fats Waller By Craig Byrd According to pianist Jason Moran, jazz legend Fats Waller ‘was a party animal.’ Waller, who wrote classics like ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’‘ and ‘Honeysuckle Rose,’ died young, but he left behind a piano style and a catalog of music that has been embraced...
Posted Feb 5th, 2016
Jason Moran Reflects About Monk’s Experience
From NPR Music Watch Two Jazz Performances That Wrestle with Race and Policing By: Patrick Jarenwattananon Many black jazz musicians have been vocal about this subject since (and well before) Ferguson. Terence Blanchard told us recently that his new record was a reaction to the Black Lives Matter campaign. And going further back, no less a superstar than Miles Davis...
Posted Dec 2nd, 2015
Jason + Dance Equals a Soothing Spiritual Massage at Kennedy Center
From The Washington Post Jason+dance equals a soothing spiritual massage at Kennedy Center By: Sarah L. Kaufman Mellow ease was raised to virtuosic heights in the Jason+Ronald K. Brown/Evidence program at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater on Wednesday night. Jason Moran, the center’s artistic director for jazz, primed us for mellowness with a live set by his trio, the Bandwagon,...
Posted Nov 2nd, 2015
Jason Moran Plays Thelonious Monk’s Town Hall Concert
From NPR Jason Moran Plays Thelonious Monk’s Town Hall Concert By: Patrick Jarenwattananon “Thelonious Monk is the most important musician, period,” Jason Moran says. He laughs out loud. “In all the world. Period!” Moran is in a dressing room deep within the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., where he’s the artistic director for jazz....
Posted Oct 13th, 2015
Finding A Line: Jason Moran’s Game-Changing Skateboarding & Jazz Event
From The Hundreds Finding A Line: Jason Moran’s Game-Changing Skateboarding & Jazz Event By: Rainey Cruz Since the late 1980s and early 90s the cross pollination of skateboarding and alternative music has always pushed the subcultures towards new thresholds of creativity and collaboration. Though not at the complete forefront, it is an accepted notion that Jazz music in particular has...
Posted Oct 7th, 2015
Skateboarders, musicians team up at an unlikely venue: the Kennedy Center
From The Washington Post Skateboarders, musicians team up at an unlikely venue: the Kennedy Center By: Peggy McGlone With the exuberance of a skater popping an ollie off a ramp, the Kennedy Center launches its season this weekend with a 10-day outdoor festival that will transform the arts center’s front plaza into a temporary skate park. A specially built bowl...
Posted Sep 14th, 2015
Where Skateboarding and Jazz Intersect
From BBC News Where Skateboarding and Jazz Intersect By: Mat Morrison The Kennedy Center in Washington has given over its famous plaza to a collection of skateboarders and musicians. Called Finding a Line, the festival is the brainchild of Jason Moran, the Center’s Artistic Director for Jazz. It features bands playing live music as skaters plunge in and out of...
Posted Sep 11th, 2015
Skateboarding Celebrated At Kennedy Center Festival
From NPR Skateboarding Celebrated At Kennedy Center Festival By: Andrew Limbong The Kennedy Center is famous for its opera, ballet and symphony. Last week, officials opened a temporary skateboarding park for amateur and professionals to do their thing to improvised live music. RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., is offering a new kind...
Posted Sep 7th, 2015
Skateboarding & Jazz with Jason Moran
From The Washington Post Skateboarding with jazz at the Kennedy Center? Absolutely. By: Michael J. West Skateboarding and jazz would seem ‘” at first glance, and maybe even at second ‘” to be unlikely bedfellows. Skateboarding is highly improvisational, but its preferred soundtrack is punk rock and, increasingly, hip-hop. Jazz, on the other hand, is seen as cerebral chill-out music...
Posted Sep 4th, 2015
Finding a Line: Skateboarding, Music, and Media, with Jason Moran
From The Washington Post *The Kennedy Center has a temporary outdoor skate park, and anyone can use it By: Rudi Greenberg As a teenager in the early ’90s, skateboarder and Richmond native Ben Ashworth used to get chased away from the Kennedy Center for trying to skate on the grounds. ‘The Kennedy Center has these nice marble ledges that are...
Posted Sep 3rd, 2015
Kennedy Center Builds Skate Park for Finding a Line Festival
From Broadway World Kennedy Center Builds Skate Park for Finding a Line Festival By: Michael Dale The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts, where many a Broadway-bound musical has worked out its kinks before taking the trek up I-95, has hosted some of the world’s greatest performing artists on its stages. But a new stage had to be...
Posted Sep 2nd, 2015
Jason Moran finds the line between Jazz and Skateboarding
Improvisation is a hallmark of jazz, just as it’s a hallmark of skateboarding. Just as one musician in, say, a quartet feeds off the notes that were played by another, so do skaters feed off the moves of other skaters, and the terrain that they have to work. This common strand is what will bring together skateboarding and jazz this...
Posted Aug 3rd, 2015
JJA Award Nominees 2015!
Congratulations to all of the nominees for this year’s Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards! Most especially those in the IMN family of artists: Musician of the Year Jason Moran Composer of the Year Vijay Iyer Arranger of the Year The Bad Plus Record of the Year Jason Moran – All Rise (Blue Note) Kenny Barron/Dave Holland – The Art of...
Posted Apr 16th, 2015
Jason Moran takes liberties with his homage to Thelonious Monk
From The Washington Post Jason Moran takes liberties with his homage to Thelonious Monk By Michael J West Jason Moran’s reverence for jazz history is equaled by his knack for subverting it. That’s easy to forget. So on Saturday night at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater, when he took the stage alone to the sound of Thelonious Monk’s 1959 version...
Posted Mar 30th, 2015
Album of the Year: Jason Moran – All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller
From The Arts Desk Album of the Year: Jason Moran – All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller A brilliant recasting of the Harlem stride master’s music By Peter Quinn Pianist Jason Moran’s Grammy-nominated tribute to the legendary pianist, singer and composer, Fats Waller, effortlessly captures the joyousness and melodic beauty of the Harlem stride master’s music. Joining Moran...
Posted Dec 22nd, 2014
We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1939
From The Wall Street Journal We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1939 Jason Moran pays tribute to Fats Waller in this breezy new album. By Martin Johnson In the past decade or so, pianist Jason Moran has established a reputation as one of the most forward-looking musicians in jazz. On his latest recording, ‘All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller’...
Posted Oct 9th, 2014
Music Review: ‘All Rise: A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller’
From NPR Music Review: ‘All Rise: A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller’ By Tom Moon One of the important thinkers in present-day jazz is taking his cue from the 1920’s on his latest project. Pianist Jason Moran has released All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: When filmmakers want to evoke the romance of American nightlife...
Posted Sep 17th, 2014
All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller
From Blue Note JASON MORAN & MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO REINVENT THE MUSIC OF FATS WALLER ON ALL RISE: A JOYFUL ELEGY FOR FATS WALLER TO BE RELEASED SEPT. 16 ON BLUE NOTE RECORDS Acclaimed pianist Jason Moran has announced a September 16 release date for All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller, a collaboration with the vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello that...
Posted Sep 16th, 2014
Jason Moran pays loving homage to Fats Waller on ‘All Rise’
From Los Angeles Times Jason Moran pays loving homage to Fats Waller on ‘All Rise’ By Chris Barton In this risk-averse music industry, there’s never a shortage of tribute albums. But few carry the same vibrant sense of adventure as Jason Moran’s loving homage to one of pop music’s earliest heroes, Fats Waller. Anyone familiar with Moran (whose last album,...
Posted Sep 16th, 2014
Modern Misbehavin’: Jason Moran Gets Into The Mind Of Fats Waller
From NPR Modern Misbehavin’: Jason Moran Gets Into The Mind Of Fats Waller by NPR STAFF Legend has it that pianist Fats Waller used to say, “If you don’t know what it is, don’t mess with it.” That’s a challenge that fellow pianist Jason Moran has been eager to take up lately. Moran’s latest album is called All Rise: A...
Posted Sep 13th, 2014
First Listen: Jason Moran, ‘All Rise: A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller’
From NPR First Listen: Jason Moran, ‘All Rise: A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller’ by PATRICK JARENWATTANANON For his latest act, Jason Moran, one of the biggest public figures in jazz today, has recorded a tribute to fellow pianist and composer Thomas “Fats” Waller ‘” who died more than three decades before Moran was born. Why Fats Waller? He lived...
Posted Sep 8th, 2014
Jason Moran & Meshell Ndegeocello Debut ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’
From Okayplayer REVIVE: Jason Moran & Meshell Ndegeocello Debut ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ + ‘ALL RISE’ LP Pre-Order Acclaimed pianist Jason Moran and vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello debut their collaborative take on the jazz standard ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ ahead of the release of the ALL RISE: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller LP, arriving September 16th via Blue Note Records. The project produced by...
Posted Aug 19th, 2014
Jason Moran Is Expanding What It Means To Experience Music
From Fast Company JASON MORAN IS EXPANDING WHAT IT MEANS TO EXPERIENCE MUSIC THE JAZZ PIANIST ON HOW HE USES COLLABORATION TO EXPAND OUR IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC AND HOW IT WILL BE PRESERVED FOR POSTERITY. By Ayana Byrd What do you do after the world declares you a genius? Take your twin sons to school, if you’re Jason Moran. In...
Posted Jul 17th, 2014
Curtain Call: How Radio Influenced Jazz Pianist Jason Moran
From LA Mag Curtain Call: How Radio Influenced Jazz Pianist Jason Moran by Craig Byrd When you think of L.A.‘s iconic radio concerts, KROQ’s Weenie Roast and KIIS-FM’s Wango Tango probably come to mind. But Long Beach-based jazz station KKJZ (88.1 FM) also hosts an annual concert. This weekend singers Steve Tyrell and Jane Monheit will perform at the Walt...
Posted Jun 25th, 2014
Jason Moran on PBS Newshour
From PBS Jason Moran strikes up the band ‘” and a conversation ‘” to enthrall new jazz listeners Jason Moran, one of today’s best-known younger jazz musicians, is a true believer that his art form can transport and transform an audience. Newly named the artistic director for jazz at the Kennedy Center in Washington, the musician now has a public...
Posted Jun 17th, 2014
Mighty Night for Jazz With Blue Note
From The Georgetowner Mighty Night for Jazz With Blue Note at Kennedy Center By Gary Tischler They called it ‘Blue Note at 75 ‘” The Concert.’ In truth, it was exactly what record producer Don Was said it was: ‘What you’ve got here with Blue Note is the history of jazz in America.’ The concert itself was made up of...
Posted May 13th, 2014
Kennedy Center extending Jason Moran’s contract for three years
From the Washington Post Kennedy Center extending Jason Moran’s contract for three years By Nelson Pressley The Kennedy Center announced Tuesday that it is extending its contract with pianist and composer Jason Moran, 39, the center’s artistic adviser for jazz since 2011. Moran is being renewed for another three years with a bump in title to artistic director for jazz,...
Posted May 6th, 2014
Moran’s Fats Waller Dance Party got the Gilmore/Fontana joint jumpin’
From MLive.com Jason Moran’s Fats Waller Dance Party got the Gilmore/Fontana joint jumpin’ (review) By Mark Wedel KALAMAZOO MI — Early in the 20th century, Fats Waller played beautiful, sophisticated stride piano, capturing the sound of Harlem’s urban life. He was also an entertainer, willing to clown and give people what they wanted, to get the party started. Another pianist...
Posted Apr 28th, 2014
Blue Note at 75: An iconic jazz record label gets a well-earned D.C. celebration
From The Washington Post Blue Note at 75: An iconic jazz record label gets a well-earned D.C. celebration By Matt Schudel To a jazz fan, there’s always been something special about Blue Note Records. It wasn’t the first record label dedicated to jazz; it didn’t always have the biggest stars or release the most historically significant recordings. But it was...
Posted Apr 27th, 2014
Jason Moran’s ‘Fats Waller Dance Party’ reclaims multitalented musician
The Boston Globe Jason Moran’s ‘Fats Waller Dance Party’ reclaims multitalented musician By Jon Garelick Twenty-five minutes into pianist and composer Jason Moran’s ‘Fats Waller Dance Party’ at Berklee Performance Center Friday night, singer Meshell Ndegeocello explained that this was beautiful music meant to be taken into the body, a physical thing, urging the audience (in vain) to get up...
Posted Apr 7th, 2014
Jason Moran throws a dance party for Fats Waller
From The Boston Globe Jason Moran throws a dance party for Fats Waller By Siddhartha Mitter The party gets real when the mask goes on. At some point in the ‘Fats Waller Dance Party,’‘ a rambunctious performance concocted by pianist Jason Moran ‘” once the stride-piano swing and prewar show tunes have started to fragment into hip-hop incantations and deep-house...
Posted Apr 2nd, 2014
Jason Moran Live On JazzSet
From NPR Music Jason Moran’s ‘Live: Time On The Quilts Of Gee’s Bend’ Suite On JazzSet Composer and pianist Jason Moran ushers in his era as Artistic Advisor for Jazz at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with this performance, captured by JazzSet in honor of Black History Month. To listen to the recording click here
Posted Feb 7th, 2014
Jason Moran: Sticking Tricks and Striking Chords
From Nextbop Jason Moran: Sticking Tricks and Striking Chords By Lucy McKeon Last spring at SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Jason Moran and his Bandwagon (with guitarist Jeff Parker) played as Bay Area skateboarders rode a mid-sized half-pipe situated in front of the stage. The interactive jam session proved so popular that they’ll be doing it again this year. Recently...
Posted Jan 30th, 2014
Glasper, Moran Kick Off Blue Note’s 75th Year at the NYC Winter Jazzfest
From Revive Music Glasper, Moran Kick Off Blue Note’s 75th Year at the NYC Winter Jazzfest By Matthew Allen Blue Note Records is 75 years old. To see how far it’s come, you don’t have to just look at the unparalleled catalog of timeless music it’s produced during that time’” classics from Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter to Norah Jones...
Posted Jan 15th, 2014
Jason Moran on JazzSet
From NPR Jason Moran On JazzSet At the KC Jazz Club, Moran sets up two tunes with pre-produced field recordings and sound montages, including a unique take on Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose.” Hear Moran’s long-running trio The Bandwagon in a set recorded in Washington, D.C. To listen to the broadcast click here
Posted Dec 2nd, 2013
Fishko Files: Moran on Monk
From WNYC Fishko Files: Moran on Monk By Sara Fishko Jazz great Thelonious Monk was born on this day in 1917. WNYC’s Sara Fishko talked to pianist Jason Moran about the powerful presence of Monk, long after his death in 1982’“for this edition of Fishko Files. To listen to the audio click here
Posted Oct 10th, 2013
Pianist Jason Moran opens UMS season
From AnnArbor.com Pianist Jason Moran opens UMS season with riffs on music of Fats Waller at unusual downtown show By Roger Lelievre When it came time for the University Musical Society to kick off its 2013-2014 season, programmers decided to opt for something outside their usual box. Hence, Hill Auditorium will sit this opener out as UMS instead presents a...
Posted Sep 4th, 2013
Jason Moran: ‘I love Fats Waller, he’s the king’
From The Gazette ‘I love Fats Waller, he’s the king’ Pianist Jason Moran to show his appreciation with dance party devoted to multi-talented performer By Juan Rodriguez MONTREAL – Whereas many of today’s jazz pianists work in the shadows cast by the lyricism of Bill Evans or the free-form gambols of Keith Jarrett, Jason Moran displays a more hard-edged approach....
Posted Jun 28th, 2013
Video: Jason Moran + Skateboarding
From Thrasher Magazine Check out the video below by Thrasher Magazine from last weeks Jason Moran performance at the SFJAZZ Center featuring a skateboarding mini ramp session. To view the video click here
Posted May 13th, 2013
Jason Moran & the Bandwagon bridge the generation gap
From The Los Angeles Times Jason Moran & the Bandwagon bridge the generation gap By Chris Barton It says something about the capacity for invention displayed by pianist Jason Moran that it was almost a disappointment to see him taking the stage Tuesday night joined “only” by his band the Bandwagon at a show presented by the Jazz Bakery. Granted,...
Posted May 9th, 2013
Live Review: Jason Moran and Live Skateboarding at SFJAZZ Center
From City Sound Inertia Live Review: Jason Moran and Live Skateboarding at SFJAZZ Center By Gabe Meline At first, the only sensible reaction was giddy laughter that it was even happening at all. At the SFJAZZ Center last night, Jason Moran’s jazz quartet led a jam session on stage’“while in the audience, with the first five rows of seats removed,...
Posted May 6th, 2013
Jason Moran’s new trick: skateboarding at SFJazz
From San Jose Mercury News Jason Moran’s new trick: skateboarding at SFJazz By Richard Scheinin A child of the ’80s, Jason Moran grew up skateboarding in Houston, Texas. He did his ollies and his kickflips. And then his parents took him and his brothers on a vacation to San Francisco, where Moran — future pianist and jazz innovator — flipped...
Posted May 2nd, 2013
Jason Moran and the Bandwagon at the Kennedy Center
from The Washington Post Music review: Jason Moran and Bandwagon at the Kennedy Center By Michael J. West Jason Moran is a specialist in the field of jazz abstraction. The pianist and leader of the trio Bandwagon has a rich knowledge of the music’s history and context ‘” part of the reason, no doubt, that he serves as the Kennedy...
Posted Feb 11th, 2013
Jason Moran Live on NPR’s JazzSet
from NPR Jason Moran’s ‘Live: Time On The Quilts Of Gee’s Bend’ Suite On JazzSet By Becca Pulliam and Mark Schramm The Philadelphia Museum of Art recently commissioned Jason Moran to write music in conjunction with its exhibition of quilts made by a remarkable group of African-American women in a small rural community on a bend in the Alabama River....
Posted Feb 1st, 2013
Jason Moran at NPR Music’s “A Jazz Piano Christmas”
From NPR Music A Jazz Piano Christmas 2012 December 14, 2012 NPR Music has an annual tradition in December: Invite some of the world’s best jazz keyboard players to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, then set them loose on their favorite holiday tunes. Jason Moran, Taylor Eigsti, Geri Allen and Ellis Marsalis perform live. To hear...
Posted Dec 17th, 2012
Jason Moran: Making Jazz Personal
From Smithsonian.com Jason Moran: Making Jazz Personal By Joann Stevens Even if Mozart’s generation had worn porkpie hats instead of powdered wigs, pianist Jason Moran doubts he would have opted for a classical music career over jazz. Though he finds the European classical music that he has studied since age six artistically beautiful, it doesn’t move him emotionally the way...
Posted Nov 15th, 2012
Jason Moran named to EBONY’s 2012 Power 100.
from EBONY Congratulations to Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran for being named to EBONY magazine’s 2012 Power 100 list. Also commemorated in this years list are Barack Obama, Lebron James and Jay-Z. With its Dec./Jan. issue’“hitting newsstands the week of November 5’“EBONY magazine reveals its 2012 Power 100 list of the nation’s most influential African Americans. The annual Power...
Posted Nov 2nd, 2012
DCist Interview: Jason Moran
From DCist.com DCist Interview: Jason Moran The jazz world suffered a huge loss in 2010 with the passing of Dr. Billy Taylor. Taylor was a master pianist, prolific composer, respected educator and pioneering jazz presenter. A District native, Taylor’s local impact was mainly felt through his tenure as Artistic Advisor for Jazz at the Kennedy Center, a position he held...
Posted Oct 10th, 2012
Fats Waller Dance Party Kicks off Harlem Stage 30th Anniversary
From: DNAinfo.com Fats Waller Dance Party Kicks off Harlem Stage 30th Anniversary By: Jeff Mays HARLEM ‘” Jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran has one goal in mind when he and singer Meshell N’degeocello kick off the 30th year of Harlem Stage with their “Fats Waller Dance Party” Saturday night: Movement. “I want to see people out dancing and having...
Posted Jul 27th, 2012
Jason Moran-The Busiest Man in Jazz
From steinway.com Steinway Artist Feature: Jason Moran. Quite Possibly the Busiest Man in Jazz. Jason Moran is a busy man. The Manhattan-based jazz pianist and composer’“dubbed by Rolling Stone Magazine as ‘the most provocative thinker in current jazz’ and named a MacArthur Fellow in 2010’” is also the newly-appointed Artistic Adviser for Jazz for the John F. Kennedy Center for...
Posted Jul 23rd, 2012
Free “Fats Waller Dance Party” Concert Kicks Off Harlem Stages’s 30th Season July 28
From: JazzCorner.com Free “Fats Waller Dance Party” Concert Kicks Off Harlem Stages’s 30th Season July 28 A free outdoor concert featuring the critically acclaimed “Fats Waller Dance Party” created by pianist/composer Jason Moran and singer/songwriter/bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, both of whom will perform, kicks off Harlem Stage’s 30th Anniversary season on Saturday, July 28, starting at 5 p.m. at Annunciation Park/Bruce...
Posted Jul 12th, 2012
Jason Moran, New Master
From The New Yorker Jason Moran, New Master By: Hendrik Hertzberg The other night, I went to hear Jason Moran play solo piano. I went because my friend Fred Kaplan, who writes about jazz for the Times when he isn’t writing about national security for Slate, told me to. ‘Go,’ said Fred. So I went. And I’ve been thinking about...
Posted Jun 26th, 2012
Grammar: Documenting Jason Moran
From: The Revivalist Grammar: Documenting Jason Moran Filmmakers Gregg Conde and Radiclani Clytus are currently in the process of making a documentary film about the evolution of jazz and hip-hop as portrayed through the artistic collaborations of Jason Moran. For the past year and a half, the filmmakers have been financing the film themselves. Now they are looking for help...
Posted Jun 14th, 2012
Jason Moran Takes on the Myths of Fats Waller
From The Chicago Tribune Jason Moran takes on the myths of Fats Waller By: Howard Reich If Fats Waller is remembered at all by the public at large these days, it’s as a caricature, with bug-eyes wide open, cigarette dangling from lip and eyebrows perpetually bobbing underneath a derby hat as he hams it up at the keys. But connoisseurs...
Posted May 31st, 2012
Jason Moran: Letting It All Bleed
From The New York Times Art, Ancestry, Africa: Letting It All Bleed By: Ben Ratliff Alicia Hall Moran is an operatic mezzo-soprano, and Jason Moran is a jazz pianist. They met at the Manhattan School of Music and married in 2003. Since then they’ve made a lot of their work separately. Mr. Moran has toured and recorded for 12 years...
Posted May 15th, 2012
Jason Moran Documentary
From Kickstarter Grammar: A Documentary project in Brooklyn, NY by Radiclani Clytus SYNOPSIS As a 2010 MacArthur Award recipient and triple-crown winner in Downbeat Magazine’s 59th annual critics poll, Jason Moran is by far one of the most talented musicians working in jazz today. A graduate of the acclaimed jazz programs at the Manhattan School of Music and Houston’s High...
Posted May 10th, 2012
On Jazz Day, Jason Moran Makes The Case For Relevance
From NPR On Jazz Day, Jason Moran Makes The Case For Relevance Some of the world’s most renowned musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying voice across cultures. Despite...
Posted Apr 30th, 2012
Gulf Coast Blues and Jazz: Johnny Winter & Jason Moran
From American Routes Gulf Coast Blues and Jazz: Johnny Winter & Jason Moran A visit with two native sons of the Texas Gulf Coast. Guitar slinger Johnny Winter grew up listening to the blues in Beaumont, Texas and took his talent for playing to the world. We talk with Winter about his Texas youth and his blues milestones. Jazz pianist...
Posted Apr 11th, 2012
Jason Moran On ‘Piano Jazz: Rising Stars’
From NPR Jason Moran On ‘Piano Jazz: Rising Stars’ Jason Moran is one of the most talked-about pianists and composers of the past decade. In 2010, he was made a MacArthur Fellow and is now the top jazz adviser for the Kennedy Center, picking up where Dr. Billy Taylor left off. Moran opens this session with a song from his...
Posted Mar 30th, 2012
Kennedy Center Announces Moran’s 1st Season as Advisor
From Capital Bop Kennedy Center announces adventurous 2012-‘13 season, the first of Jason Moran’s tenure By: Giovanni Russonello From the Kennedy Center’s well-appointed vantage on the banks of the Potomac, jazz has never seemed so accommodating, so open-armed, as it does this week. The center on Tuesday announced its 2012-‘13 jazz season, the first under the curation of Jason Moran,...
Posted Mar 8th, 2012
Jason Moran Promotes the Abstract in Jazz
From PBS NewsHour A New Voice at the Kennedy Center, Jason Moran ‘Promotes the Abstract’ in Jazz An emerging jazz innovator and the new artistic director at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, musician Jason Moran uses song to promote thought, therapy, consciousness and creativity. Jeffrey Brown speaks with Moran about his efforts to create more appreciators of the...
Posted Feb 29th, 2012
PBS NewsHour Conversation with Jason Moran
From PBS NewsHour Conversation: Jazz Musician Jason Moran By: Jeffrey Brown Jason Moran has made a name for himself at an early age as a jazz pianist and composer. And that name is growing to a wider public; last year, Moran was awarded a MacArthur genius fellowship, and he was recently made the artistic adviser for jazz at the Kennedy...
Posted Feb 24th, 2012
Jason Moran Performs at Smithsonian Groundbreaking
Jazz pianist Jason Moran performed in DC yesterday as part of the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Actress and singer Phylicia Rashad led the ceremony as emcee, with featured speakers including President Obama, former first lady Laura Bush, US Representative John Lewis of Georgia, and the museum’s director Lonnie Bunch. Watch a...
Posted Feb 23rd, 2012
Moran & Holland: Jazz Royalty
From The Cornell Daily Sun Jazz Royalty Captivates Barnes Hall By: Daveen Koh Darn that dream. You know there’s something great stirring when an audience maintains an awestruck silence (punctuated only by rapturous ovations) throughout a performance. Even before pianist Jason Moran and his special guest, bassist Dave Holland, could play one note, the effusive audience rolled out a red...
Posted Jan 30th, 2012
“Genius” and Jazz Legend Open Cornell Concert Series
From The Ithaca Journal ‘Genius’ and jazz legend open Cornell Concert Series By: Stephen Kimball The first installment of the Cornell Concert Series’ 2012 season, which takes place at 8 p.m. Saturday, will feature a rare meeting of gifted performers ‘” a “genius” and a jazz legend. Pianist Jason Moran is the genius, having been a recipient of a John...
Posted Jan 26th, 2012
Jason Moran Takes the Before & After Challenge
From JazzTimes Jason Moran Takes the Before & After Challenge By: Thomas Conrad Nobody sounds like pianist Jason Moran. Yet his jagged, percussive, expansive piano language, with its hard-edged lyricism, has proven adaptable to many musical situations. Besides the Bandwagon, his longstanding working trio with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits, Moran’s projects as a leader have included solo...
Posted Jan 19th, 2012
Jason Moran: Kennedy Center’s Jazz Man
from Loop 21 Meet the Kennedy Center’s New Jazz Man By Keli Goff ‘Genius’ Jason Moran talks Jay-Z, President Obama and The Roots with The Loop For many, watching The Kennedy Center Honors, the annual celebration of the world’s greatest artists hosted by the President and First Lady, has become a holiday staple, right up there with relaxing and watching...
Posted Jan 9th, 2012
Jason Moran Jazzed to Promote the Arts
From The Washington Post He’s jazzed ‘” Jason Moran’s mission is to promote the ‘arts as part of the American diet’ By: Matt Schudel During an afternoon sound check at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, pianist Jason Moran was asked if he could play ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as a promotion for NPR. He didn’t quite remember the melody and wanted...
Posted Jan 2nd, 2012
Jason Moran, Curator
From A Blog Supreme/NPR Jazz Jason Moran, Curator By: Becca Pulliam The 2011 edition of the annual holiday special A Jazz Piano Christmas is now playing on public radio stations and at NPR Music. One of this year’s performers was pianist Jason Moran ‘” making his first performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after being...
Posted Dec 18th, 2011
Kennedy Center Names Jason Moran as Artistic Advisor for Jazz
From The Washington Post Jason Moran named Kennedy Center’s new artistic adviser for jazz By: Jess Righthand Jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran has been named the Kennedy Center’s new artistic adviser for jazz, in an announcement released Tuesday. Moran will be only the second person to hold the position, following a 16-year stint by one of his mentors, the...
Posted Nov 30th, 2011
Jason Moran & Esperanza Spalding Make The Root’s 100 List
From The Root 2011 The Root 100 List The 100 most influential African Americans in 2011 For 2011 The Root set out to identify the most influential African Americans between 25 and 45 years of age. They defined influence broadly to include anyone who is shaping our daily conversations with work that matters. To identify and rank The Root 100,...
Posted Oct 5th, 2011
Jason Moran’s Summer Music Pick
From NPR’s The Record Songs Of The Summer: Musicians’ Picks By: Frannie Kelley This week on The Record, we’re looking at some of the songs that captured our attention (or held us hostage) this summer, and asking what they tell us about our standards, our anxieties and the places we want our music to take us when it’s hot out....
Posted Sep 8th, 2011
“RFK in the Land of Apartheid” Premieres Tonight
From Africa.com “RFK in the Land of Apartheid” Premiering on PBS Tonight By: John Suggs Robert F. Kennedy has long been identified with Massachusetts, New York, and Washington D.C. But this week, following its successful spring South African premiere and tour, a new film that explores the slain presidential candidate’s ties with South Africa, will air on PBS tonight in...
Posted Aug 22nd, 2011
Jamie Cullum Interviews Jason Moran on BBC
From BBC Radio Jason Moran – Interview with Jamie Cullum This week, Jamie chats to American jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran in an interview recorded backstage at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Jason tells Jamie about the huge influence that Thelonious Monk has had on him and explains how this is evident within his music, as well as talking Jamie...
Posted Jul 14th, 2011
Jason Moran Wins DownBeat Triple Crown
From DownBeat Jason Moran Wins DownBeat Critics Poll Jason Moran scored a triple-crown victory in the 59th Annual DownBeat Critics Poll, winning honors for Jazz Artist of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year and Pianist of the Year. The full results of this year’s poll will be published in the August issue of DownBeat, which hits newsstands right after...
Posted Jul 6th, 2011
In Your Ear: Jason Moran
From NPR In Your Ear: Jason Moran Tell Me More In this occasional series “In Your Ear,” award-winning jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran shares some of his favorite tunes. His diverse choices include a remix of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and a piece by one of Senegal’s most gifted drummers Dudu N’diaye Rose. Listen below or on NPR’s...
Posted Jun 27th, 2011
INTERVIEW: Jason Moran Discusses “Badwagon”
From The Examiner Interview with Jason Moran, pianist By: Eugene Chan Over the last decade NY-native Moran and his trio ‘The Bandwagon’ has developed a reputation for being one of the leading Jazz ensembles of its time. In a 2009 ‘New York Magazine’ article NEA Jazz Master Marian McPartland said of Moran, ‘Moran is one of the the best, most...
Posted Jun 20th, 2011
REVIEW: Bandwagon ties up all the Blues ends
From the Brisbane Times New York threesome ties up all the blues ends By: John Shand The Basement, June 13 IN 20 days, 16 international jazz acts have played in Sydney. The last such influx came in January 1981, which featured Lester Bowie’s From the Root to the Source, a band that delighted in proving the oneness of the gamut...
Posted Jun 15th, 2011
Jason Moran Live at A Gathering of Tribes
From The Paris Review The Soloist: Jason Moran Live at A Gathering of Tribes By: J. D. Mitchell ‘It’s actually nice to play on this piano because it’s got the funk,’ said the virtuoso jazz pianist Jason Moran. He was seated at an old Kurtzman upright piano and had just finished playing a lush, hard-swinging solo version of ‘The Sheik...
Posted Jun 9th, 2011
Raw Materials/Jason Moran and the Bandwagon
From theage.com Raw Materials/Jason Moran and the Bandwagon By Jessica Nicholas TWO of the most formidable and innovative pianists in jazz shared a remarkable double bill at the Forum on Wednesday. Vijay Iyer had already demonstrated his unconventional approach in a solo concert earlier in the festival; this time he appeared in a duo setting (Raw Materials) with alto saxophonist...
Posted Jun 8th, 2011
Jason Moran: Feet’s Too Big? No Problem!
From The New York Times Feet’s Too Big? No Problem; Everyone Dances Here By: Ben Ratliff Once, a special event in jazz meant something warm and secretive and spontaneous: two guys who hadn’t seen each other in a while, improvising several choruses together. But lately ‘” since the early 1990s, when jazz became fixed in the world of arts grants...
Posted May 17th, 2011
Get Moving Up in Harlem With Jason Moran
From The Wall Street Journal Get Moving Up in Harlem By: Pia Catton Almost every art form frets about finding a balance of old and new: repertory versus contemporary, tradition versus technology. The tension can result in misguided productions: The tension can result in overly complex productions: How many (glitchy) computers, for instance, does it take to operate a 19th-century...
Posted May 15th, 2011
Jason Moran Takes Fats Waller Back to the Club
From NPR Jason Moran Takes Fats Waller Back to the Club By: Janaya Williams In Depression-era New York jazz clubs, “Fats” Waller was known for getting the party jumping. Now, musicians Jason Moran and Me’Shell Ndegeocello are collaborating on a new project that transforms Waller’s rollicking stride piano style into contemporary dance music. Like so many ideas, this one started...
Posted May 13th, 2011
Jason Moran on Fats Waller
From NY Daily News Pianist Jason Moran, bassist Meshell Ndegeocello mash up jazz greats, modern beats at Harlem Stage By: Greg Thomas When pianist Jason Moran and bassist and vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello take the stage this weekend at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse, the music of Fats Waller will mash with modern dance beats for an uptown party. As part of...
Posted May 11th, 2011
Jason Moran and Harlem Jazz
From The Wall Street Journal Follow the Sound Uptown: The Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival Defends Its Home Turf By: Will Friedwald In 1932, Harlem was so firmly established as the world capitol of jazz and African-American culture in general that “black cinema” films like “Harlem Is Heaven” were playing on the nation’s big screens. Jazz flourished and grew like it...
Posted May 9th, 2011
Jason Moran wins at 2011 Jazz Echo Awards
At this years Echo Jazz Awards in Germany Jason Moran won International Instrumentalist of the Year-Piano/Keyboards for his most recent album “Ten”. Brad Mehldau also won International Ensemble of the Year for “Highway Rider” To see the full list of winners click here
Posted Apr 26th, 2011
INTERVIEW Jason Moran: Making You Move
From The Revivalist Jason Moran: Making You Move By: Eric Sandler Movement is a universal contingency of music, yet, it seems as if the tradition and emotions are being repressed even as music continues to create the grooves we yearn for. This is a problem for piano maestro Jason Moran. Not only does he want to make you dance, he...
Posted Mar 31st, 2011
Jason Moran and The Bandwagon in Australia
A stunning double bill featuring two of the influential jazz pianists of our era. Jason Moran & The Bandwagon make their debut performance in Australia, alongside Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa in Raw Materials. Hailed as “the most provocative thinker in current jazz” (Rolling Stone), MacArthur Fellow and Blue Note recording artist Jason Moran is a driving force behind the...
Posted Mar 14th, 2011
Jason Moran and Other Houstonians Take NYC
From A Blog Supreme/NPR Jazz Texas Takes Manhattan, To Great Effect By: Patrick Jarenwattananon In the middle of January, the jazz pianist and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran took his talents to South Manhattan. He organized an two-night, ridiculous-in-a-good-way concert revue called 713 ‘”> 212: Houstonians In NYC, featuring musicians ‘” jazz and otherwise ‘” from his Texas hometown. Great musicians...
Posted Feb 24th, 2011
INTERVIEW: Jason Moran with Vogue Milan
Milan has a hard time building a vital and self-sustaining jazz scene, the few exceptions being the Blue Note, La Salumeria della Musica and Aperitivo in Concerto del Teatro Manzoni. Just this past November, a pair of great pianists played at the Blue Note, Robert Glasper, and then the following evening Jason Moran, 35-year-old Texan who lives in New York...
Posted Feb 15th, 2011
Jason Moran’s Favorite Date-Night Jazz
Jason Moran recently contributed to Jozen’s “Until I Get Married” blog about his favorite date-night jazz music. Or as NPR’s A Blog Supreme tweeted, “Jason Moran tells you single dudes out there what jazz to play for a lady.” Read a sample of the blog below and click here to read the full post. Album: Speak No Evil Artist: Wayne...
Posted Jan 31st, 2011
Jason Moran JazzStories Podcast
From Jazz At Lincoln Center Jazz musicians refer to what they do as telling stories. JazzStories brings the musicians’ own words to their music. Actor Wendell Pierce takes us backstage for after-hours sessions and conversations. The latest edition of the JazzStories podcast features prolific pianist and composer Jason Moran, who fuses stride piano, avant-garde jazz and sampled sounds. Hear the...
Posted Jan 25th, 2011
Jason Moran Brings Houston Jazz to NYC
From The New York Times Houston’s Jazz Stars, Celebrated in TriBeCa By: Ben Ratliff In music circles, around the turn of the new century, the phrase ‘from Houston’ started to mean something by consensus. Not just in hip-hop and R&B ‘” that was the time of Swishahouse Records, DJ Screw, UGK and Destiny’s Child ‘” but, strangely enough, in jazz....
Posted Jan 17th, 2011
Jason Moran Reunites HSPVA Grads in NYC
From The Houston Chronicle Jazz Pianist Reunites HSPVA Graduates For NY Festival By: Andrew Dansby Despite young jazz phenom Jason Moran’s status as a MacArthur Fellow genius, he hasn’t forgotten his roots. Since he was bestowed with the honor last year, the pianist and HSPVA graduate returned to Houston for a free concert at Discovery Green last fall. And tonight...
Posted Jan 12th, 2011
Jason Moran’s “TEN” Tops 2010 Lists
From Oakland Examiner Bay Area Talent Cracks National Year’s Best Lists By: Brian McCoy The week between Christmas and New Year’s may be a quiet one generally speaking in this country but for music journalists it marks the best time to release their end-of-year lists. The nation’s leading jazz critics all seem to agree one on thing: that is, that...
Posted Jan 3rd, 2011
Jason Moran Nominated for Texan of the Year
From WFAA Texan of the Year Nominee: Jason Moran By: Casey Norton Being a Texan means challenging authority, staking your claim, and venturing out into wide horizons with endless possibilities. So, if someone goes into New York City, stands up to the establishment and says “here’s a better way ‘” my way ‘” of doing it,” that person has to...
Posted Dec 22nd, 2010
The LA Times Reviews 2010 in Jazz
From The LA Times Chris Barton from the LA Times recently listed his favorite jazz albums of 2010. Among the mentions are IMN artists Brad Mehldau, Jason Moran, and The Bad Plus. See what he has to say about their 2010 releases below: Brad Mehldau, ‘Highway Rider’ (Nonesuch) At this point it’s obvious that Mehldau simply doesn’t think small. Spread...
Posted Dec 20th, 2010
NY Times Popcast: Best Albums of 2010
From The New York Times This week on Popcast, The Times’s weekly music podcast: the first of a three-part review of the year in pop and jazz, with our critics discussing their Top 10 lists, 2010’s most intriguing artists and the fine art of listmaking itself. In a roundtable conversation about the best albums of 2010, Jon Pareles recounts how...
Posted Dec 17th, 2010
Nate Chinen Calls Jason Moran’s “Ten” #1 of 2010
From The New York Times Renewal, the Sensual and Fraught Candor By: Nate Chinen 1. JASON MORAN ‘Ten’ (Blue Note) A pianist often hailed first for his ideas, Mr. Moran has spent the last decade forging an urgent, elegant style with the Bandwagon, which is to say the drummer Nasheet Waits and the bassist Tarus Mateen. This album, true to...
Posted Dec 14th, 2010
Jason Moran Tops Spinner’s Best Jazz of 2010
From Spinner Best Jazz Albums of 2010 By: Tad Hendrickson For the music obsessed, every year has a musical identity that’s colored by the new albums and songs that receive steady play on our various devices. I generally love doing these year-end things because it gives me a chance to go back to pieces that jumped out at the time....
Posted Dec 9th, 2010
Jason Moran Tops A Blog Supreme’s Best Jazz of 2010
From A Blog Supreme/NPR Jazz Top 10 Jazz Albums Of 2010 By: Patrick Jarenwattananon The jazz musician of 2010 has nearly 100 years of recorded jazz history to grapple with. This is both alarming and liberating: alarming because the task of coming to grips with your roots is bigger than ever, and liberating because there are so many exciting places...
Posted Dec 4th, 2010
VIDEO Jason Moran & The Bad Plus at Rosslyn
From A Blog Supreme/NPR Jazz Video: Full Concerts From Jason Moran, The Bad Plus, More By: Patrick Jarenwattananon In recent years, Jason Moran’s Bandwagon and The Bad Plus have occasionally been booked for back-to-back engagements. Interesting idea: Here are two long-running, well-oiled, 21st-century piano trios. Compare and contrast, anyone? It happened recently on a September Saturday in Northern Virginia, just...
Posted Nov 30th, 2010
INTERVIEW Jason Moran Redefines Expressions of Jazz
From NPR Jason Moran Redefines Expressions of Jazz Jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran won a MacArthur Fellowship for his work as a bandleader who mines a variety of musical styles. He was recognized for genre-crossing performances that expand the boundaries of jazz expression. Host Michel Martin speaks with Moran about the award and his work. Listen to the full...
Posted Nov 10th, 2010
INTERVIEW: Jason Moran: Jazz Maestro, MacArthur Fellow
From PBS NewsHour Jason Moran: Jazz Maestro, MacArthur Fellow By: Jeffrey Brown Jason Moran is a jazz pianist and composer who, interested in the history of jazz, has investigated and researched the real life experiences of some of America’s most important musical artists before creating inspired new works of his own. He is also one of the winners of this...
Posted Nov 8th, 2010
REVIEW Jason Moran at Ronnie Scott’s
from telegraph.co.uk The young American jazz pianist Jason Moran reaches places his British contemporaries can’t By Ivan Hewett The 35-year-old American pianist Jason Moran may not be well-known here, but in the US he’s acquired a gravitas to rival Brad Mehldau. He’s touted as the heir to the jazz tradition by the country’s leading critics, and has just won a...
Posted Nov 2nd, 2010
Newsweek Profiles Jason Moran
From Newsweek The Tale of the Rich Jazz Pianist If Jason Moran won’t sell out for a $500,000 MacArthur grant, he never will. By Seth Colter Walls Jason Moran is wise in a couple of ways. There’s the brilliant-musician thing, what with his being equally adept at interpreting Thelonious Monk and Afrika Bambaataa. But then he also knows that Americans...
Posted Oct 25th, 2010
Jason Moran’s High School Reunion
From NPR Today’s Jazz Stars, Back In High School By Patrick Jarenwattananon Tonight, pianist and recent MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran plays a free show in his hometown of Houston. He’ll be appearing with a jazz band from Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, his alma mater. Moran is far from the only acclaimed jazz musician to have...
Posted Oct 20th, 2010
Nate Chinen Blogs About Jason Moran
From The Gig Ought to Be By: Nate Chinen A few songs into their rampagingly good first set at the Village Vanguard on Tuesday, Jason Moran and the Bandwagon played a somber version of ‘Artists Ought to Be Writing,’ from Artist in Residence, their 2006 album. The track hinges on a spoken text by the conceptualist and philosopher Adrian Piper,...
Posted Oct 19th, 2010
Jason Moran Named MacArthur Fellow
From NPR Jason Moran Named MacArthur Fellow The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named Jason Moran, a jazz pianist and composer known for his prodigious talent and eclectic sensibility, as one of 23 new MacArthur Fellows for 2010. The MacArthur Fellowship, informally and externally known as the “genius grant,” is an award worth $500,000, distributed quarterly over...
Posted Oct 9th, 2010
Jason Moran: Broadcast Live At The Village Vanguard
From NPR Observers of modern jazz have long known about the unique talents of composer and pianist Jason Moran. This fall, it’s come into sharp relief that at age 35, he’s already done an awful lot with them. Mostly with The Bandwagon, Moran’s trio of 10 years, he has developed a deep repertoire of originals and innovative arrangements. The Bandwagon...
Posted Oct 5th, 2010
INTERVIEW Jason Moran on Winning His MacArthur Genius Grant
From The Wall Street Journal Musician Jason Moran on Winning His MacArthur Genius Grant By Alexandra Cheney Jason Moran moved to New York City when he was 18 years old to pursue his craft and dream of being a jazz pianist. Since then, the Houston-born musician has garnered admiration for his fusion of classical jazz rhythms with modern pop beats....
Posted Oct 1st, 2010
Jason Moran: In All Languages
(From Jazz Times) Jason Moran: In All Languages By Geoffrey Himes On Oct. 28, 2007, Jason Moran, then 32, walked out alone onto the dimly lit stage of Washington’s Lisner Auditorium. On the overhead screen, black-and-white video flickered with still photos from Thelonious Monk’s rehearsals for his legendary 1959 Town Hall concert. As Moran sat down at the grand piano...
Posted Sep 21st, 2010
REVIEW The Washington Post Calls Jason Moran’s TEN “Remarkable”
From The Washington Post *Album Review: Jason Moran’s ‘Ten’ By Geoffrey Himes Jason Moran calls his new album “Ten” because it has been 10 years since he formed his Bandwagon trio with drummer Nasheet Waits and bassist Tarus Mateen. During that time the three have become arguably the most important band in jazz, translating their rare stability into a muscular,...
Posted Sep 15th, 2010
REVIEW Jason Moran’s “Ten” is “full of wonderful moments”
from http://www.telegraph.co.uk To say of a jazz pianist that he can play in every style, and embrace a hundred influences beyond jazz, is a backhanded compliment. It could imply that he hasn’t got a personal voice of his own. The astonishing thing about 35-year-old New York pianist Jason Moran is that he unites both elements. He embraces everything, but is...
Posted Aug 23rd, 2010
REVIEW JazzTimes Calls New Jason Moran Album “Easy to Love”
From JazzTimes Jason Moran and the Bandwagon: Ten By Ron Wynn Pianist and bandleader Jason Moran’s exceptional trio the Bandwagon marks its first decade on Ten, which is the pianist’s first CD in more than four years. It’s also a release that explores multiple contexts and situations rather than relying on or spotlighting a central theme. Moran is equally accomplished...
Posted Aug 17th, 2010
Moran and Douglas on The Phoenix’s Don’t Miss List
from The Boston Phoenix A Newport Sampler By Jon Garelick The Newport Jazz Festival (August 6-8) has plenty of big guns worth your attention on the main Fort Stage ‘” from Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Ahmad Jamal, and Wynton Marsalis with Dave Brubeck to the Maria Schneider Orchestra and Arturo O’Farrill’s Latin Jazz Orchestra. But it’s the side stages at...
Posted Aug 5th, 2010
Vote For Your Favorite Jason Moran Remix!
Indaba Music is holding a contest to see who can come up with the best remix or cover of “RFK in the Land of Apartheid” off of Jason Moran and the Bandwagon’s latest album, Ten. The entries are in, and now it’s time for you to vote for your favorite. Polls close on July 28th. The grand prize winner will...
Posted Jul 24th, 2010
LIVE REVIEW Jason Moran, inolvidable en Pamplona
On Jason Moran’s European tour this month, he and the Bandwagon we’re joined by special guests Chris Potter and Ralph Alessi for an unforgettable performance in Pamplona, Spain. For some pictures of the event and to read how it went, in Spanish, click here
Posted Jul 22nd, 2010
INTERVIEW Jason Moran on CNN
from CNN How I Got Here: From music student to jazz master Some highlights from the video: Jason Moran is a jazz musician who has one foot in the past, one in the future and a career grounded in the present. From the past, Moran has built on the tradition of Thelonious Monk and other jazz greats. For the future,...
Posted Jul 19th, 2010
REVIEW Jason Moran’s ‘Ten’
from the Houston Chronicle Jason Moran challenges limits of jazz By Andrew Dansby Ten big black dots appear on the cover of Jason Moran’s new album in a confounding cluster. Like great jazz album covers of yesteryear on the storied Blue Note label, the one for Moran’s Ten has an air of mystery amid the clarity of its bold design....
Posted Jul 9th, 2010
REVIEW Jason Moran’s “Ten” (NPR)
from NPR Jason Moran’s ‘Ten’: The Bandwagon In Its Diamond Year By Tom Moon This year marks the 10-year anniversary of The Bandwagon, a trio led by 35-year-old pianist and composer Jason Moran. The trio has expanded jazz with elements of hip-hop and electronic music, a mix that critics have hailed as visionary. Its latest recording is called Ten. Longevity...
Posted Jul 6th, 2010
Checkout Studio Session: Jason Moran & The Bandwagon
from The Checkout Listen to Jason Moran & The Bandwagon perform songs off their latest album Ten in a Checkout Studio Session here.
Posted Jun 28th, 2010
REVIEW Jason Moran’s “Ten” (NY Times)
from The New York Times JASON MORAN “Ten” (Blue Note) By Nate Chinen Jason Moran’s new album lands with an accumulated weight, both intrinsic and external. The external part has to do with his stature as a jazz pianist of rare institutional approval: a recipient of commissions and fellowships, a collaborator of choreographers and visual artists, a mixed-media conceptualist. The...
Posted Jun 23rd, 2010
REVIEW Jason Moran’s “Ten” (LA Times)
From The LA Times Album Review: Jason Moran’s “Ten” By Chris Barton Artistic rivalries are generally an overblown concept in music, something for obsessives to debate over drinks. Still, in the wake of the avalanche of acclaim received by pianist Vijay Iyer last year for his excellent trio album “Historicity,” it’s hard not to wonder if the similarly lauded Jason...
Posted Jun 20th, 2010
Spinner Magazine Reviews Jason Moran’s “Ten”
(From Spinner Magazine) Jason Moran Shows Off His Older, Wiser Side On “Ten” By: Tad Hendrickson Published: June 17, 2010 Pianist Jason Moran’s star has been on a long steady rise since making his debut on Blue Note in 1999 with ‘Soundtrack to Human Emotion.’ Barely into his 20s at the time, Moran was playing with saxophonist Greg Osby and...
Posted Jun 18th, 2010
First Listen: Jason Moran “Ten” (NPR)
(from NPR) By: Patrick Jarenwattananon Posted: June 13, 2010 If you follow modern jazz, you already know why this statement is exciting: Jason Moran and the Bandwagon are releasing a new album. If you’re wondering why your jazz-loving friend is so giddy right now, this record is a good place to start. See, Jason Moran is a jazz pianist whose...
Posted Jun 15th, 2010
REVIEW: Jason Moran’s “Ten”
(From The Village Voice) Jason Moran’s New Jazz Testament By: K. Leander Williams Published: June 15, 2010 The jazz grind was much the same as it is today when Bandwagon, pianist Jason Moran’s trio with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits, formed in late 1999, spun out of Blue Note Records’ Greg Osby’“led youth-movement band New Directions. Jazzers had...
Posted Jun 15th, 2010
REVIEW Jason Moran’s ‘Ten’
(From The Boston Globe) By: STEVE GREENLEE Published: June 7, 2010 It’s been more than a decade since Jason Moran appeared out of nowhere and upended the notion that no one in jazz could do anything new on the piano. From the opening moments of his first album, Soundtrack to Human Motion, Moran announced himself as not just a musician...
Posted Jun 8th, 2010
DownBeat Editor’s Pick: Jason Moran’s “Ten”
(From DownBeat Magazine) By: Frank Alkyer Ten documents composer/bandleader/pianist Jason Moran a decade after his debut recording for the Blue Note label. It’s a simple enough concept, but the title alone doesn’t do justice to the development of Moran during that time span. That first record, Soundtrack To Human Motion, gave us just a hint of a young pianist full...
Posted Jun 1st, 2010
NY Times Profiles Mr. & Mrs. Jason Moran
(From The New York Times) By: Kathryn Shattuck Published: April 30, 2010 Alicia Hall Moran is prone to bold pronouncements, and her wedding to Jason Moran in September 2003 was no exception. Where other brides might announce themselves with flutes and strings, she sashayed toward the altar to the pounding of African drums. ‘I just wasn’t feeling a German-Romantic stroll...
Posted May 3rd, 2010
REVIEW “In My Mind” Documentary with Jason Moran
(From Slant Magazine) By: Arthur Ryel-Lindsey Published: April 10, 2010 In 2009, jazz piano prodigy Jason Moran and a vital group of musicians put a modernized twist on Thelonious Monk’s legendary Town Hall concert, live in the same venue in New York. Director Gary Hawkins, with the assistance of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, has cut together...
Posted Apr 12th, 2010
Jason Moran “In My Mind” Documentary Premieres April 19
(From The New York Public Library) The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to give a free premiere screening of the documentary In My Mind, with an introduction by jazz pianist Jason Moran on April 19 at 5:30 p.m. As part of The Jazz Loft Project exhibit, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the...
Posted Apr 7th, 2010
Jason Moran & The Bandwagon Release “Ten” on June 22
Jason Moran & The Bandwagon: Ten Release date: June 22, 2010 (From AntiMusic) Published: March 25, 2010 In 1999, the same year that Jason Moran released his debut Soundtrack To Human Motion, the prodigy pianist and composer also joined New Directions, a band made up of young stars from the Blue Note roster that went on tour in celebration of...
Posted Apr 3rd, 2010
Jason Moran Joins NEC Faculty
(from New England Conservatory) Named “Up-n-Coming Jazz Musician” of 2003 by the Jazz Journalists Association, and called “the most provocative thinker in current jazz” by Rolling Stone, Jason Moran first came to prominence as a member of saxophonist Greg Osby’s touring and recording band in 1997. In 1999, Osby’s label, Blue Note, signed Moran to a recording contract in his...
Posted Apr 2nd, 2010
TheGrio’s 100: Jason Moran, The Future of Jazz
From TheGrio (by Talia Whyte) Jason Moran has been picked as one of TheGrio’s 100 History Makers in the Making alongside Wynton Marsalis, Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, Deval Patrick, Wyclef Jean, Tyler Perry, Beyoncé Knowles, and Jay-Z. “If Johann Sebastian Bach and Thelonius Monk were both alive today, they would probably be impressed by the musical ingenuity of Jason Moran...
Posted Feb 10th, 2010
Jason Moran Composes Ballet Score
From WUNC (with: Frank Stasio) Jason Moran recently composed a score for Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, a contemporary dance company based out of San Francisco. The piece Moran composed is called Refraction. WUNC interviewed both Moran and King about the collaboration. To listen to the interview click here
Posted Feb 4th, 2010
Jason Moran on Where We Live, WNPR
WNPR – Connecticut Public Radio Click here to listen Today, Where We Live, we’ll preview The International Festival of Arts and Ideas, which opens in New Haven on June 13th. We’ll talk with pianist Jason Moran about his upcoming performance at the Long Wharf with his eight-piece band The Big Bandwagon. They’ll perform an original multimedia piece based on Thelonious...
Posted Jun 12th, 2009
Jason Moran on the Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC
Playing Pianos and Politicians Click here to listen to the entire program On today’s show: We celebrate the 50th anniversary of Thelonious Monk’s Town Hall concert. Plus, a discussion with a top political consultant about the leadership styles of Presidents and Prime Ministers from around the world. var addthis_pub=“4a1593986290e969”;
Posted Feb 25th, 2009
MORAN UNVEILS IN MY MIND: MONK AT TOWN HALL, 1959
Pianist, composer, and Blue Note recording artist Jason Moran will celebrate the legacy of Jazz great Thelonious Monk with several events this Fall commemorating the 90th anniversary of the legendary pianist and composer’s birth. Perhaps the foremost stylistic heir to Monk, Moran has earned his own reputation for being the most provocative thinker in current jazz (Rolling Stone) over the...
Posted Sep 28th, 2007
Artist In Residence Out Tomorrow!!!
PianistJason Moran delves into the art world & continues to blaze his own trail with Artist In Residence, his seventh & most adventurous recording for Blue Note. Made up of music from three extended works he composed for major US arts institutions (Milestone for the Walker Art Center, The Shape, The Scent, The Feel of Things for the Dia Foundation,...
Posted Sep 11th, 2006
Jason Moran on NPR’s Fresh Air
Fresh Air from WHYY, June 27, 2005 Click here to listen He’s been awarded the 2005 Pianist of the Year award by the Jazz Journalist’s Association, and he also received the first ever 2005 Playboy Magazine Jazz Artist of the Year. His new album is called Same Mother, which reflects the 30-year-old musician’s current interest in the blues. He’s also...
Posted Jun 27th, 2005
New Jason Moran Record – February 2005
Jason Moran’s sixth release on Blue Note Records, SAME MOTHER, will be released on February 1, 2005. The new album marks the introduction to the Moran camp of guitarist Marvin Sewell, best known for his live and recorded work with Cassandra Wilson. "Jason Moran [is] shaping up to be the most provocative thinker in current jazz." —Rolling Stone
Posted Sep 1st, 2004
Jason Moran: Selma
Pianist and composer Jason Moran has established himself as a risk-taker and trendsetter for new directions in jazz. The Los Angeles Times hails Moran, “a startlingly gifted pianist with a relentless thirst for experimentation.” It’s that incomparable talent and unyielding drive towards innovation that earned Moran a prestigious MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship and the title of Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz. In this moving program, Moran revisits his score for the Academy Award winning film Selma for piano and guitar plus orchestra. The film tells the story of a pivotal moment in US history, when in 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. helped to organize an anti-segregation march along the highway from Selma, Alabama to the state capital. Considered one of the nation’s great victories for organized protest, the march contributed to the passage of the Voting Rights act later that year. Performing the score live to the backdrop of the film, Moran’s music perfectly complements the scale of the story and leaves audiences “with evidence that they can actually go back into society and be part of the change” (Jason Moran, The Washington Post).
Jason Moran - The Harlem Hellfighters
Jason Moran: James Reese Europe and the Harlem Hellfighters: The Absence of Ruin
Composer, pianist, and visual artist Jason Moran reflects on the legacy of a hero of black music in a multidisciplinary program entitled, James Reese Europe and the Harlem Hellfighters: The Absence of Ruin. An iconic figure in the evolution of African-American music, ragtime pioneer, and World War I hero, James Reese Europe led a crack military ensemble called the Harlem Hellfighters. In addition to their achievements in combat, Europe and his Hellfighters popularized the new spirit of jazz in a war-torn French nation fascinated with black culture. And that’s only the beginning of their story – their legacy has had an extraordinary impact on African-American music over the past century of cultural and political change.
Moran’s innovative program features his Bandwagon bandmates – bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits – plus a seven-piece horn section, contributions from artist/writer/film director/screenwriter John Akomfrah, and visual materials from acclaimed cinematographer Bradford Young. It’s Moran’s response to Orlando Patterson’s concept of the “absence of ruin” – a musical monument to a vanishing African-American history. Of the US premiere, The Washington Post exclaims, “We already know that Jason Moran is stunningly and profoundly original, even in his treatment of existing material… Knowing it doesn’t prepare one for the stark, sublime beauty of ‘James Reese Europe and the Harlem Hellfighters: The Absence of Ruin.’”
James Reese Europe and the Absence of Ruin is co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, Berliner Festspiele / Jazzfest Berlin, Serious and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, with support from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and from the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany.
For more information about this project, click here
A startlingly gifted pianist with a relentless thirst for experimentation.
The L.A. Times
The most provocative thinker in current jazz.
Rolling Stone
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
No finer piano trio currently stalks the earth. Historically and intellectually resourceful but also sparklingly intuitive, inventive, spontaneous…unassailably brilliant.
DownBeat