Kait Dunton Trio at Feinstein's At Vitello's

KAIT DUNTON is a Los Angeles based jazz pianist and composer. Kait’s music pushes the definition of jazz into new realms with her expansive and richly compositional concept for piano trio and other ensembles. Classically trained, she later found jazz and the freedom of improvisation to be a creative release and her entry into composition. First encouraged by a college mentor to “Go write something!” but never told how to do it, Kait’s writing has always come unfiltered from the heart. Her love of story and travel imbue her music with a sense of journey and imagination, inviting listeners through her sonic creation of narrative and mood....

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KAIT DUNTON is a Los Angeles based jazz pianist and composer. Kait’s music pushes the definition of jazz into new realms with her expansive and richly compositional concept for piano trio and other ensembles. Classically trained, she later found jazz and the freedom of improvisation to be a creative release and her entry into composition. First encouraged by a college mentor to “Go write something!” but never told how to do it, Kait’s writing has always come unfiltered from the heart. Her love of story and travel imbue her music with a sense of journey and imagination, inviting listeners through her sonic creation of narrative and mood.

Her self-produced first album, Real & Imagined, has garnered high praise for Kait’s writing and playing, and her concept for piano trio. Kait has been recently highlighted as an upcoming artist in the Playboy Jazz Festival publication and as as one of “10 Future Female Jazz Stars” on Jazz.com. Kait’s second album of original compositions, Mountain Suite, features Bob Mintzer on tenor sax, John Daversa on trumpet, Peter Erskine on drums and percussion, and Darek Oles on bass. With Mountain Suite, Kait has created a unified musical concept that tells a story in album format: the music is meant to go in order, depicting a journey in the abstract.

Kait also composes for classical ensembles. Her most recent piece, “Grevelia”, a three movement work for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, cello, and bass – was premiered this March at the University of Southern California.

Currently, Kait is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, with an emphasis on composition, music education, and music industry. She performs often with her trio and other groups around Los Angeles. She has studied piano under Alan Pasqua, and composition under Vince Mendoza and Erica Muhl.

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