Will be performing at Cornelia Street Cafe on November 30, 2010 from 6:00-7:30PM. $10 Cover. Please call (212) 989-9319 for reservations.
Joe Alterman is a jazz pianist whose playing is a joyous throwback to the keyboard stylists of the 1950s. His remarkable debut CD, "Piano Tracks (Vol. 1)," was recorded in 2009 and skillfully revives the art of graceful improvisation, which has been lost today on many younger players. On the album’s five standards, Alterman mixes the tasteful phrasings of Red Garland, Ahmad Jamal, Billy Taylor and other piano legends with his own distinct approach. The result is that classics such as "I Cover the Waterfront," "I’ve Got a Crush On You" and "Days of Wine and Roses" sound perfectly fresh and new. By merging the patient touch of past pianists with his own contemporary sound, Alterman manages to revitalize the familiar, rekindling memories of why you started listening to jazz in the first place. ...
read more
Will be performing at Cornelia Street Cafe on November 30, 2010 from 6:00-7:30PM. $10 Cover. Please call (212) 989-9319 for reservations.
Joe Alterman is a jazz pianist whose playing is a joyous throwback to the keyboard stylists of the 1950s. His remarkable debut CD, "Piano Tracks (Vol. 1)," was recorded in 2009 and skillfully revives the art of graceful improvisation, which has been lost today on many younger players. On the album’s five standards, Alterman mixes the tasteful phrasings of Red Garland, Ahmad Jamal, Billy Taylor and other piano legends with his own distinct approach. The result is that classics such as "I Cover the Waterfront," "I’ve Got a Crush On You" and "Days of Wine and Roses" sound perfectly fresh and new. By merging the patient touch of past pianists with his own contemporary sound, Alterman manages to revitalize the familiar, rekindling memories of why you started listening to jazz in the first place.
Only twenty-one years old, Alterman was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been playing piano since the age of five. Ever since getting booted out of classical music school at the age of 12 for performing boogie-woogie music at a recital, Joe has been exploring his deep love for jazz. Notable instructors include Oliver Wood (of "The Wood Brothers"), and Gary Motley (director of Emory University's Jazz Program), who, through his use of blues phrasings, Gene Harris type rolls, and intense and swinging buildups, Joe credits for showing him just how exciting jazz could be.
Now a student at New York University, Joe has had the opportunity to learn from and play with some of the world's greatest musicians including Don Friedman, Brian Lynch, Billy Drummond, Mike Richmond, Ralph Lalama, Kenny Werner, Martin Wind, and Ron McClure.
In a day and age where jazz music, for the most part, has seemed to escape the average music fan as feeling and emotion seem to play a backhand to theory and mind, Joe wants his listener's to connect with his music by feeling something.
Joe recently released his first CD, "Piano Tracks, Vol. One". For more information please visit www.joealtermanmusic.com
"Joe Alterman has tremendous taste and a passionate respect for swing and space. His touch on the keyboard is reminiscent of pianists from earlier years who listened carefully, felt expressively and actually cared about what the listener heard. Joe is a remarkable swinger and poet."
— Marc Myers, JazzWax.com
"Talk about the joy of jazz!...It's a pleasure to hear this music...You've got it!"
— Nat Hentoff, critic, journalist, record producer, NEA Jazz Master
"Sondheim's song urges us all to "learn how to bounce," which I know is a commendable skill - but young Joe Alterman already knows how.
Welcome!"
— Michael Steinman, JazzLives.wordpress.com
"Although there are stretches where his use of dynamics and space recalls Ahmad Jamal, Alterman sounds like himself...[He] displays a lot of originality in his playing, even on the more familiar standards, and his ideas are full of life, spirit and little surprises."
— Scott Yanow, jazz journalist, author, and historian
show less
