Bassist Rich Syracuse and drummer Jeff "Siege" Siegel welcome the amazing pianist/composer Francesca Tanksley to their bi-weekly jazz residency at Catskill Mountain Pizza Company (now in their 9th year!)
Francesca Tanksley surprises. The internationally-acclaimed jazz pianist and composer, described as “a vivid presence” by jazz critic Nat Hentoff, breaks through traditional expectations with the power of her musical vision. Acknowledged as a fine soloist, composer, and accompanist with such notable groups as the Billy Harper Quintet, the Jeff “Siege” Siegel Quartet, and the Erica Lindsay Quintet, she has performed throughout Europe, East and Southeast Asia, Scandinavia and South America as well as in the United States, and appears on numerous CD releases of these groups. Her compositional talent is featured on recordings by the Billy Harper Quintet, the Jeff Siegel Quartet, the Rob Scheps Quartet, as well as on her own Trio recording, entitled, Journey.
Other leading musicians with whom Francesca Tanksley has performed include David Newman, Howard Johnson, Laurel Massé of Manhattan Transfer, Reggie Workman, Cecil Payne, Nick Brignola, Kamau Adilifu, Charles Davis, Clifford Jordan, Jay Clayton, Slide Hampton, Sheila Jordan, Jimmy Cobb, Pat LaBarbera, and tap-dancers Katherine Kramer and Brenda Buffalino. She has been a featured artist on Marian McPartland's widely acclaimed National Public Radio series, Piano Jazz, and appears in the documentary, Women In Jazz by Burrill Crohn. Ms. Tanksley also is noted in the books, American Women In Jazz, by Sally Plaxin, and in Madam Jazz, by Leslie Gourse.
In addition to being an acclaimed accompanist and composer, Ms. Tanksley also leads the Francesca Tanksley Trio. Her 2002 debut recording, entitled Journey, features her original compositions and includes colleagues from the Billy Harper Quintet, drummer Newman Taylor Baker, bassist Clarence Seay, as well as guest vocalist Judy Bady. Commissioned works featuring the Francesca Tanksley Trio include a suite entitled, Goddess of the Sea, commissioned by St. Gregory’s Church of Woodstock, New York, as well as original compositions commissioned by tap dancer Katherine Kramer at Skidmore College, NY, and Florida International University. The Francesca Tanksley Trio, has toured both in the U.S. and internationally, at venues including Sweet Basil in NYC, the Pleshakov Piano Museum in Hudson, NY, the Kalisz International Piano Jazz Festival, and jazz club Blue Note in Poznan, Poland.
Ms. Tanksley holds a Master's Degree in Music from Queens College, Queens, New York, and is the recipient of the Graduating Master's Award, the Eubie and Marion Blake Foundation Award, and the ASCAP Louis Armstrong Composers’ Scholarship Award. She has taught in various jazz workshops at numerous colleges, including the University of Southern California at Santa Cruz, Hampton University, Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute, Arizona State University, and Bard College. Ms. Tanksley served as faculty at New School University’s Jazz Program in New York City from 1995-2015, and is currently full-time Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, as well as Visiting Artist at Bard College at Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
Download a High Resolution Photo of Francesca
"A vivid presence”
–Nat Hentoff, liner notes Dreamer/The Erica Lindsay Quintet
“This is a brilliant, commanding and original artist.”
–Mark Gallo, jazzreview.com
"If you're at all familiar with the saxophonist Billy Harper's powerhouse quintet, you know what this compelling pianist can do."
–John Donahue, The New Yorker
"Tanksley is such a deep, grounded player; she knows exactly what she's up to, doesn't reach for effect. Her playing is fluid and full of moments of discovery."
–Rich Scheinin, Mercury News
“Tanksley, like [McCoy] Tyner, also has a spiritual dimension to her work … a gentle eloquence that contrasts with a pulsating quality.” –David Dupont, Cadence
“Ms. Tanksley reworked the vocabulary of McCoy Tyner as if she had taken just one small aspect of his style and developed it into a full language. She gave the music color, her harmonies and chording adding surprise to the performance.”
–Peter Watrous, The New York Times
“Outstanding on this recording is pianist Francesca Tanksley … her deep harmonic and rhythmic insights seem to inspire … as much as support … and her solos are swinging, thoughtful, surprising, and hard-driving, never failing to elevate the music.”
—Erik Lawrence, Chronogram
“a veritable dream machine of a player”
–Fern Franke, InsideOUT Magazine
“Tanksley’s playing, as well as writing, has an engaging appeal based on an impressive matching of warm and cool.”
–Tom Pierce, allaboutjazz.com
“Francesca Tanksley is a very serious pianist.”
–Nils Jacobson, allaboutjazz.com
“…rich in harmonic invention….”
–Royal Stokes, The Washington Post
“Point of departure for both Tanksley’s playing and writing is McCoy Tyner’s work, those Milestone albums where latinate leadsheets are torn up with velocitous zeal.”
–Tom Perchard, The Wire
“A revelation”
–Tomas Conrad, CD Review, review of Dreamer/The Erica Lindsay Quintet
“A mix of calculated musicianship and bold improvisation … Tanksley's compositions ... were a delight. Full of verve, humor and poignancy, they covered the full gambit of what jazz is all about.”
–John Paul Keeler, The Register-Star
“A peerless pianist…an elegant and deft jazz improviser….”
–Mikhail Horowitz, The Woodstock Times
“All eyes went to Francesca Tanksley [who is] proof that women are establishing a stronger and stronger presence on the jazz scene.”
–Roald Helgheim, festival puls [Norway]
“…like a tiger unleashed….”
–Mario Hernando, Malaya [Philippines]
Media Accolades for Francesca Tanksley Trio’s CD, Journey
Radio: Charted 11 weeks on Jazz Week and listed in Top Tens of CMJ (College Radio)!
“The new Francesca Tanskley CD is the most exciting piano album I've heard since Brad Mehldau's 'Largo' - it's filled with ideas, it's daring, it's original. I absolutely love playing it.”
–James Bickers, WFPK-FM jazz host
“Francesca is poised to take her rightful place in the higher echelon of today’s modernists both as a pianist and composer. Her first CD is proof positive.”
–Jimmy Heath
“This is mesmerizing, captivating and monumental music.”
–Mark Gallo, jazzreview.com
Bassist Rich Syracuse and drummer Jeff “Siege” Siegel are a rhythm teach that has accompanied countless artists over the past 30 years including Kurt Elling, Sheila Jordan, Mose Allison, Dave Stryker, Vic Juris, Karl Berger, Lee Shaw, Nick Brignola, Ali Ryerson, Peter Levin and more. Individually Rich’s credits include Joey Calderazzo, Dave Liebman, Michael Musilami, Jeff “Tain” Watts and many more. Siegel has performed with Kenny Burrell, Dave Douglas, Stefon Harris, Sir Roland Hanna, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Joanne Brackeen and several others. Their teaching credits currently include Skidmore College, SUNY New Paltz, The New School, Western Connecticut State University, Vassar College, Bard College and The Hotchkiss School. See less
show less
