8th Solo Piano Festival

Friday Feature Concert

The Solo Jazz Piano Festival, now in its eighth year, is one of the cornerstones of the VJC’s programming. The festival has presented some of the world’s top pianists and most important musical innovators of this generation including NEA Jazz Masters Toshiko Akiyoshi and Joanne Brackeen, acknowledged luminaries Stanley Cowell, Benny Green, Sullivan Fortner, Kenny Werner, and many others.

Friday Feature Concert: Set I
Hey Rim Jeon
Hey Rim Jeon’s style is characterized by graceful melodic lines, attention to the spaces between the notes, and adroit technical facility. She is a celebrated teacher at Berklee College of Music, where she offers individual instruction focusing on piano technique. Ms. Jeon is recognized for her uncanny ability to use the language and phrasing of music to tell stories.

Set II
Aaron Parks
Aaron Parks’ creations are musical reflections of his search for meaning. He uses expressive phrasing, contrast and captivating arrangements that encourage spaciousness. He is a master of time-keeping. Parks has developed his own “inner drummer” by feeling rhythm in his body and conveying that pulse clearly no matter what the style or tempo. He is also adept at reharmonizing tunes from the Great American Songbook.

Saturday Feature Artists
Alfredo Rodríguez
Alfredo Rodriguez brings a vast knowledge of the Latin American piano tradition, replete with the virtuosic ability necessary to convey that style. His Cuban roots saturate his sound, which is also strongly influenced by the classical repertoire. Rodriguez feels that the “message of music is about expressing unity and about being together, knowing where we are coming from, and trying to help each other.”

Jacky Terrasson
Jacky Terrasson was a major presence in the vibrant New York jazz scene during the early 1990s when he earned first prize at the Thelonious Monk Competition. He is now based in France, where his star has continued to rise. Terrasson swings hard and incorporates lots of dynamic emphasis into his performances, emulating players like Ahmad Jamal. Listen to his use of interesting ostinatos (left-handed repeated figures) and rhythmical puzzles in his solo piano arrangements.

Saturday Emerging Artists
Yujin Han
South Korean-born pianist Yujin Han is a Presidential Scholar who has been studying with Danilo Perez and Kris Davis at Berklee college of music in the Global Jazz Institute and Jazz and Gender Justice Institute programs.

Mathew Mueller
Mathew is a senior at Amherst College. He grew up in the New Haven, Connecticut region, playing piano and singing in his Russian church choir. At Amherst he has been studying jazz piano, music theory and composition.