AMERICAN BALLAD (2022) is the new duo album from pianist Kevin Hays and drummer Bill Stewart. Largely improvised, the music was recorded over 2 days in Brooklyn in 2015 and remained unreleased, until now.
Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist, composer, and singer/songwriter Kevin Hays, is internationally recognized as one of the most original and compelling musicians of his generation. His many recordings have received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Downbeat Magazine and Jazz Times, as well as the “Coup de Coeur” award from the Académie Charles Cros (France).
Kevin has appeared on over 60 albums as a guest artist, recording with Chris Potter, Bill Stewart, Joshua Redman, Jeff Ballard, Nicholas Payton, and Al Foster, among others. Notable collaborations include a widely-acclaimed piano duo project with Brad Mehldau (Modern Music – Nonesuch), performances with James Taylor, Sonny Rollins, John Scofield, Joe Henderson, and Roy Haynes....
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AMERICAN BALLAD (2022) is the new duo album from pianist Kevin Hays and drummer Bill Stewart. Largely improvised, the music was recorded over 2 days in Brooklyn in 2015 and remained unreleased, until now.
Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist, composer, and singer/songwriter Kevin Hays, is internationally recognized as one of the most original and compelling musicians of his generation. His many recordings have received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Downbeat Magazine and Jazz Times, as well as the “Coup de Coeur” award from the Académie Charles Cros (France).
Kevin has appeared on over 60 albums as a guest artist, recording with Chris Potter, Bill Stewart, Joshua Redman, Jeff Ballard, Nicholas Payton, and Al Foster, among others. Notable collaborations include a widely-acclaimed piano duo project with Brad Mehldau (Modern Music – Nonesuch), performances with James Taylor, Sonny Rollins, John Scofield, Joe Henderson, and Roy Haynes.
In addition to his celebrated work as pianist and composer, Kevin has become increasingly known as a gifted and expressive singer/songwriter. In 2015 he released the critically acclaimed recording New Day (Sunnyside), on which he performed his own songs and a riveting performance of the Jimmy Webb classic ‘Highwayman’.
In 2017 Hays joined the Steve Gadd Band. The group released their eponymous album which garnered a 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. He co-wrote several compositions with the other band members, and the album features Kevin’s own “Spring Song”, the sole vocal track.
Hope (2019) his release, highlights the beauty of Kevin’s duets with Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke, who came to the world’s attention through his stellar work with Herbie Hancock.
Matt Brewer has worked with artists such as Greg Osby, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Lee Konitz, David Sanchez, Terence Blanchard, Aaron Parks, Jeff “Tain” Watts, among others. He is featured on dozens of recordings, including two on the Blue Note record label. “Channel Three” by Greg Osby, and “Avatar” by Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Matt has also led bands throughout NYC, performing at venues such as the Jazz Gallery, Fat Cat, and the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. His band was featured at the New Mexico international Jazz Festival. He is an adjunct faculty member at The New School, has been a guest artist/teacher at the Banff Center, and teaches master classes across the globe.
Al Foster, master drummer, has been a major innovator in the world of jazz for several decades. As a member of the Miles Davis band for thirteen years, Foster's contribution to Davis' music is articulated by Davis himself in his 1989 autobiography, Miles: The Autobiography, where Davis describes the first time he heard Foster play live in 1972 at the Cellar Club on 95th Street in Manhattan:
'He [Foster] knocked me out because he had such a groove and he would just lay it right in there. That was the kind of thing I was looking for. AI could set it up for everybody else to play off and just keep the groove going forever."
Over the years, Foster has toured extensively with Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson, becoming a major attraction in all three bands as well as an integral part of them.
Respected and admired for his keen sensitivity, Foster is known for his unique ability to listen to and playoff others in an almost telepathic way, responding to them with a style that is at once both charismatic and understated. Al Foster, is a great believer in the purity of the music, a genuine artist who continues to push the boundaries of creativity again and again, devoted to preserving and perpetuating the highest standards in jazz today.
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