Carmen Staaf at Piedmont Piano Company

LIVE at Piedmont Piano Company presents the Jazz Piano Masters Series

Herbie Hancock calls Carmen Staaf "a consummate jazz pianist with equal talent in composition, orchestration and arranging. A bright future awaits her." Currently pianist and Musical Director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carmen has performed everywhere from the Village Vanguard with John Zorn, to Lincoln Center as a guest soloist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, to recordings with Natalie Merchant and Lila Downs. She was a fellow at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute, where she studied with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...

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LIVE at Piedmont Piano Company presents the Jazz Piano Masters Series

Herbie Hancock calls Carmen Staaf "a consummate jazz pianist with equal talent in composition, orchestration and arranging. A bright future awaits her." Currently pianist and Musical Director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carmen has performed everywhere from the Village Vanguard with John Zorn, to Lincoln Center as a guest soloist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, to recordings with Natalie Merchant and Lila Downs. She was a fellow at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute, where she studied with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. A Yamaha Artist, Carmen has played at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals, the Playboy Jazz Festival (where she performed in a two-piano setting with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter), International Jazz Days in Paris and at the White House, and throughout Europe, Latin America and India. She has been a DownBeat Rising Star Pianist for the last two years. Her 2018 co-led album "Science Fair" (with drummer Allison Miller) made both the NY Times and LA Times "Best of 2018" lists, and received 4.5 stars in DownBeat. She and Miller released their duo album Nearness on Sunnyside in July 2022 to critical acclaim.

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