Music of Jason Moran

Pianist Jason Moran visits NEC for a one-week residency that includes public masterclasses on February 1 and 2, along with tonight's concert of his music, performed by NEC students.

Moran, named "Up-n-Coming Jazz Musician" of 2003 by the Jazz Journalists Association and called "the most provocative thinker in current jazz" by Rolling Stone magazine, first came to prominence as a member of saxophonist Greg Osby's touring and recording band in 1997. In 1999 Osby's label, Blue Note, signed Moran to a recording contract in his own right. He has since released seven CDs as a solo pianist or bandleader, to great acclaim. His current band, the Bandwagon, is a trio with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits.

In addition to critical and audience recognition of his music, Moran has received commissions from the San Francisco Jazz Festival and Chamber Music America, to which he responded by using sampled conversations as vocal triggers. Moran's willingness to mix media is currently being fulfilled by collaborations with such noted visual and performing artists as Glenn Ligon, Kara Walker, and Joan Jonas.

After getting his early inspiration from Thelonious Monk and his academic start at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Moran became one of Jaki Byard's last students in New York.