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Cyrus Chestnut

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Cyrus Chestnut is an American jazz pianist, composer and producer, born in 1963 in Baltimore. His father was a postman and church pianist; his mother worked for social services and led a church choir. Chestnut began piano lessons at seven and played as a child in the Mount Calvary Baptist Church. At nine he studied classical music at the Peabody Institute. In 1985 he graduated in jazz composition and arranging from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The church, classical music and jazz all three belong to his playing.

Music and breakthrough

In the late 1980s and early 1990s he worked with Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison. In the early 1990s he joined the band of the singer Betty Carter and played on her 1992 album It's Not About the Melody. That same year he recorded his first albums as a bandleader, The Nutman Speaks and Nut. Later records include Revelation in 1994, Earth Stories in 1996, Soul Food in 2001, Cyrus Plays Elvis in 2007 and Soul Brother Cool in 2013.

Influence

On Genuine Chestnut from 2006 he plays with his regular trio and gives jazz versions of well-known pop songs, such as If by Bread. His own Mason Dixon Line on the album is a cheerful bebop number. Time magazine called him the best jazz pianist of his generation in 2006, because he dares to leave notes out and to play space. Chestnut is thus an example of a pianist who combines jazz, gospel and pop in a natural way.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to his version of If on Genuine Chestnut and notice the silences between the notes. Can you hear how he gives the familiar pop song room to breathe?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists