For four decades, the GRAMMY-nominated pianist/composer/ arranger David Benoit has reigned supreme as one the founding fathers of Contemporary Jazz. When he was coming up, Benoit worked with singers Patti Austin, Connie Stevens, Ann-Margaret, and Lainie Kazan as her musical director/conductor. In 1976, Benoit released albums on the AVI label from 1977 to 1984. He later released several chart-topping recordings for GRP, including Freedom at Midnight (1987), Waiting for Spring (1989) and Shadows (1991), which both topped Billboards Contemporary Jazz Charts at #5, #1, and #2, respectively.His other noteworthy recordings include Letter to Evan (1992), his tribute to another piano influence, Bill Evans, and Heres to You, Charlie Brown: Fifty Great Years (2000)...
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For four decades, the GRAMMY-nominated pianist/composer/ arranger David Benoit has reigned supreme as one the founding fathers of Contemporary Jazz. When he was coming up, Benoit worked with singers Patti Austin, Connie Stevens, Ann-Margaret, and Lainie Kazan as her musical director/conductor. In 1976, Benoit released albums on the AVI label from 1977 to 1984. He later released several chart-topping recordings for GRP, including Freedom at Midnight (1987), Waiting for Spring (1989) and Shadows (1991), which both topped Billboards Contemporary Jazz Charts at #5, #1, and #2, respectively.His other noteworthy recordings include Letter to Evan (1992), his tribute to another piano influence, Bill Evans, and Heres to You, Charlie Brown: Fifty Great Years (2000). Benoit also recorded with Russ Freeman on their album The Benoit/Freeman Project (1994), and on their follow-up collaboration, 2 (2004), which was released on Peak Records. His other recordings for the label include American Landscape (1997) and Orchestral Stories (2005), which featured his first piano concerto, The Centaur and the Sphinx, and a symphonic work, Kobe. He has received three GRAMMY nominations in the categories of Best Contemporary Jazz Performance for Every Step of the Way (1989), Best Large Ensemble Performance for GRP All-Star Big Band (1996), and Best Instrumental Composition for Dads Room, the latter from the album Professional Dreamer (2000). He has also worked with an impressive potpourri of musicians including the Rippingtons, Emily Remler, the late Alphonse Mouzon, Dave Koz, Faith Hill, David Sanborn, CeCe Winans, Keiko Matsui, Hiroshima, and Brian McKnight.Davids career as a contemporary jazz pianist began in 1977 and includes 41 solo recordings over the past 40 years. Many of these, including his 1987 GRP Records debut Freedom at Midnight and its Grammy nominated 1988 follow-up Every Step Of The Way, are considered influential classics in the genre. Among his other Grammy nominations are those for Best Instrumental Composition (for Dads Room and 1999s Professional Dreamer), Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance (GRP All-Star Big Band) and voted Keyboardist of the Year in 2000 and 2001 by the Oasis Contemporary Jazz Awards, and on Billboards Contemporary Jazz Chart. Davids latest release,Timeless (2024), is his first all big band recording featuring the London based Spice Fusion big band.
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