Peter John Stoltzman Bio
Recent highlights include touring Japan and recording with drummer Steve Gadd, bassist Eddie Gomez and marimba virtuoso Mika Yoshida. Peter has two releases on Blue Canoe Records - with the jazz quintet, The New Five (2009), and the Ron Westray/Thomas Heflin project (2010). Peter has independently released a 3-CD package of all original music (a finalist for the 2005 Independent Music Awards), a solo piano CD and a CD of piano and clarinet repertoire with his father, Richard Stoltzman. His new trio record, “Walk the Path,” was released in October, 2009, to rave reviews in Austin. Peter will release a live trio recording in late 2011. Peter is the pianist in the Gabriel Santiago Quintet, with a DVD release and Brazilian tours planned in 2011.
Peter has performed at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, and concert halls around the globe, with luminaries such as Alex Acuna, Kazumi Watanabe, and Yosvanny Terry. Peter and his father have been featured on WNYC, Sirius Satellite Radio, NPR, and CBS Sunday Morning. Peter’s piano playing and arrangements also are featured on his father’s BMG Japan releases, “Bach Fantasies and Variations” and “Lamento,” and published in the Richard Stoltzman Songbook (Carl Fischer, 2002).
A student of Joanne Brackeen, Charlie Banacos and Bob Brookmeyer (and many others), Peter graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Performance from Berklee College of Music in 1999. After Berklee, Peter lived in New York City, where he recorded and performed with an eclectic variety of artists including drummer Deantoni Parks and Kudu, rapper Jah Dan and Noble Society, guitarist John Shannon and Waking Vision, and the American Music Award-winning funk band The Bomb Squad.
As a teacher, Peter has been a regular on the faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop since 1997. In 2011, Peter became the SJW Faculty Director. He has developed after-school programs to teach music fundamentals and improvisation to children, and led Young Audiences programs with his world music group, Samadhi. In 2009, Peter led the music component of Austin's Leadership Enrichment through the Arts Program. Peter has given jazz masterclasses around the country and on tour in Italy and Japan, and continues to teach private lessons in jazz and contemporary styles of performance and composition.
In 2004, Peter earned his Master’s Degree in Jazz Composition with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance, along with a Concentration in Music in Education from New England Conservatory. In 2010, Peter won first prize in the Philips Jazz Piano Competition. After four years pursuing a doctoral degree in Music and Human Learning from the University of Texas, Peter begins a full-time teaching position at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011-2012.
Peter on MYSPACE
The Trio on MYSPACE
Peter on iLike
Peter on FACEBOOK
Recent highlights include touring Japan and recording with drummer Steve Gadd, bassist Eddie Gomez and marimba virtuoso Mika Yoshida. Peter has two releases on Blue Canoe Records - with the jazz quintet, The New Five (2009), and the Ron Westray/Thomas Heflin project (2010). Peter has independently released a 3-CD package of all original music (a finalist for the 2005 Independent Music Awards), a solo piano CD and a CD of piano and clarinet repertoire with his father, Richard Stoltzman. His new trio record, “Walk the Path,” was released in October, 2009, to rave reviews in Austin. Peter will release a live trio recording in late 2011. Peter is the pianist in the Gabriel Santiago Quintet, with a DVD release and Brazilian tours planned in 2011.
Peter has performed at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, and concert halls around the globe, with luminaries such as Alex Acuna, Kazumi Watanabe, and Yosvanny Terry. Peter and his father have been featured on WNYC, Sirius Satellite Radio, NPR, and CBS Sunday Morning. Peter’s piano playing and arrangements also are featured on his father’s BMG Japan releases, “Bach Fantasies and Variations” and “Lamento,” and published in the Richard Stoltzman Songbook (Carl Fischer, 2002).
A student of Joanne Brackeen, Charlie Banacos and Bob Brookmeyer (and many others), Peter graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Performance from Berklee College of Music in 1999. After Berklee, Peter lived in New York City, where he recorded and performed with an eclectic variety of artists including drummer Deantoni Parks and Kudu, rapper Jah Dan and Noble Society, guitarist John Shannon and Waking Vision, and the American Music Award-winning funk band The Bomb Squad.
As a teacher, Peter has been a regular on the faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop since 1997. In 2011, Peter became the SJW Faculty Director. He has developed after-school programs to teach music fundamentals and improvisation to children, and led Young Audiences programs with his world music group, Samadhi. In 2009, Peter led the music component of Austin's Leadership Enrichment through the Arts Program. Peter has given jazz masterclasses around the country and on tour in Italy and Japan, and continues to teach private lessons in jazz and contemporary styles of performance and composition.
In 2004, Peter earned his Master’s Degree in Jazz Composition with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance, along with a Concentration in Music in Education from New England Conservatory. In 2010, Peter won first prize in the Philips Jazz Piano Competition. After four years pursuing a doctoral degree in Music and Human Learning from the University of Texas, Peter begins a full-time teaching position at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011-2012.
Peter on MYSPACE
The Trio on MYSPACE
Peter on iLike
Peter on FACEBOOK
Peter John Stoltzman Trio Sample Press Release:
“Monster jazz piano player” Peter John Stoltzman leads his Trio at the [venue] this [date and time]. The Trio, featuring drummer Steve Schwelling and bassist Glenn Patrick Harris brings a blend of contemporary and classic piano trio aesthetics to jazz standards, classical, and rock tunes. The Trio’s first release, Walk the Path, has drawn rave reviews and comparisons to Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Keith Jarrett and Hank Jones.
While quietly releasing 5 independent recordings over the past decade, Stoltzman has cut his teeth as a sideman with jazz luminaries and young lions – performing with Eddie Gomez and Steve Gadd, Ron Westray, Bob Moses, Julian Lage, Justin Vasquez and Yosvanny Terry, among others. Stoltzman has played in the Montreal Jazz Festival, the North Beach, San Jose, and Stanford Jazz Festivals, the Texas and Austin Jazz Festivals, and jazz venues from NYC to Bratislava to Tokyo. With his father, Grammy-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, Peter John has recorded three CDs for BMG, played the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, and concert halls around the globe. A uniquely diverse performer, Stoltzman has recorded and toured with folk, rock, funk, drum-n-bass, fusion, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban groups, performed an avant-garde concerto with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and even made tracks for Warner Bros. hip-hop artists.
All along, Stoltzman has maintained a passion for the piano trio, inspired by the likes of Jarrett, Oscar Peterson, and Brad Meldhau. While honoring the history and the masters within the tradition, the Peter John Stoltzman Trio builds bridges to the past and the future with a contemporary jazz approach to classical and modern popular music – from Debussy to Dylan. Original compositions by the Trio, from epic long-form jazz to sweet ballads to funky New Orleans second-line, have audiences enthralled, teary-eyed, and tapping their feet.
“…a marvelous pianist…”
- Timothy Gilligan, New York Concert Review
“…sweet and sophisticated…”
- Kenny Werner, jazz pianist, author, Effortless Mastery
"...exhilarating and bouyant..."
- The Bermuda Royal Gazette
"...a monster jazz piano player..."
- the late Jack Elliot, director of the Mancini Institute
While quietly releasing 5 independent recordings over the past decade, Stoltzman has cut his teeth as a sideman with jazz luminaries and young lions – performing with Eddie Gomez and Steve Gadd, Ron Westray, Bob Moses, Julian Lage, Justin Vasquez and Yosvanny Terry, among others. Stoltzman has played in the Montreal Jazz Festival, the North Beach, San Jose, and Stanford Jazz Festivals, the Texas and Austin Jazz Festivals, and jazz venues from NYC to Bratislava to Tokyo. With his father, Grammy-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, Peter John has recorded three CDs for BMG, played the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, and concert halls around the globe. A uniquely diverse performer, Stoltzman has recorded and toured with folk, rock, funk, drum-n-bass, fusion, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban groups, performed an avant-garde concerto with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and even made tracks for Warner Bros. hip-hop artists.
All along, Stoltzman has maintained a passion for the piano trio, inspired by the likes of Jarrett, Oscar Peterson, and Brad Meldhau. While honoring the history and the masters within the tradition, the Peter John Stoltzman Trio builds bridges to the past and the future with a contemporary jazz approach to classical and modern popular music – from Debussy to Dylan. Original compositions by the Trio, from epic long-form jazz to sweet ballads to funky New Orleans second-line, have audiences enthralled, teary-eyed, and tapping their feet.
“…a marvelous pianist…”
- Timothy Gilligan, New York Concert Review
“…sweet and sophisticated…”
- Kenny Werner, jazz pianist, author, Effortless Mastery
"...exhilarating and bouyant..."
- The Bermuda Royal Gazette
"...a monster jazz piano player..."
- the late Jack Elliot, director of the Mancini Institute
