Cyrus Chestnut Trio

What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon notes and play space.
-TIME Magazine

The VJC is honored to present pianist Cyrus Chestnut with bassist Herman Burney and drummer Kelton Norris.

Tonight you’ll be listening to Cyrus Chestnut explore selections from the Great American Songbook, spirituals, jazz standards, and original music, as well as surprising transformations from pop and the classical repertoire. His approach is characterized by two constants: a deep connection to gospel music and a resounding sense of swing. Chestnut has chops to spare, but he uses his technique judiciously, choosing taste over technique.

As a youth Cyrus Chestnut was immersed in the spiritual beliefs and musical canon of the Baptist church. His training as a musician followed a path from church musician to the Peabody Conservatory Preparatory program and the Berklee College of Music. After college he quickly became known as a consummate sideman, touring the world and making recordings with numerous jazz legends. He is now recognized as a major leader in his own right. Chestnut currently holds the position of Master Instructor of Jazz Piano and Improvisation at Howard University.

For Chestnut, there has always been a deep connection between jazz and his spiritual path. This was cultivated by his parents, who were also active church musicians. In an interview with iRockJazz.com Chestnut reflected on the musical skills he learned as a church accompanist: “The church was a great training ground. It was an unspoken school, much like the Betty Carter and the Buhaina [Art Blakey] schools; the church taught me ear-training, how to improvise, and the principals of accompaniment. It was my job to figure out the keys and chords behind vocalists. People would sing in all twelve keys and modulate, and I’d have to follow them. Playing for the choir you had to give support. At the end of the preacher’s sermons I’d provide the musical ‘amen.’ You listen in church and use your ears, it wasn’t about you but what you could contribute to the whole.”

Gospel sounds permeate Chestnut’s music and act as a thread that ties together a repertoire spanning the stylistic spectrum. In the iRockJazz interview he summed up: “If I’m going to be honest about who I am, there’s the element from the church that has to be present not in a separate way but in a collective way. Anything that I play could have elements of a hymn or some type of gospel tinge…”

Chestnut’s path as a sideman included gigs, tours and recordings with vocalist Jon Hendricks, trumpeter Terrence Blanchard, saxophonist Donald Harrison and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. But it was working with the legendary singer Betty Carter that Chestnut considered his “graduate school.” In several interviews Chestnut has claimed that the enduring lesson he learned from Carter is that “jazz is about finding out who you are.” Since his tenure with Carter, Chestnut has worked with an array of leading musicians including saxophonists Joe Lovano, James Carter, Vincent Herring, Steve Wilson; trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Hargrove and Freddie Hubbard, as well as Chick Corea, Kevin Mahogany, Dee Dee Bridgewater, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and opera singer Kathleen Battle. In 1996 he appeared on the soundtrack to director Robert Altman’s feature film Kansas City (which also found Cyrus portraying a Count Basie-inspired pianist). In this evening’s concert Cyrus Chestnut will be joined by bassist Herman Burney, another individual whose musical journey was strongly influenced by growing up in the church.

Burney is best known for his tenures with Freddy Cole and Rene Marie, and has also toured with Nnenna Freelon, Marcus Roberts, Wynton Marsalis, Sonny Fortune, Harry Pickens, Eric Alexander, Wycliffe Gordon, Monty Alexander, Oscar Brown, Red Holloway, Natalie Cole, Cedar Walton, Eric Reed, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Ellis Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Terrell Stafford, Frank Wess, Carl Allen, and Etta Jones. The drummer for the trio is DC-based Kelton Norris. Called Washington D.C.’s Best Drummer by the Washington City Paper, Norris performs and records with such artists as Hamiet Bluiett, Afro-Blue, Rodney Whitaker, Warren Wolf, Paul Bollenback, Ron Blake, Victor Provost, Elijah Jamal Balbed, Shannon Gunn, and many others.

We are certain that you will enjoy the sounds of Cyrus Chestnut, who, when asked by Neon Jazz how he sees himself, responded: “A person who loves music… A servant for human kind, doing what I can to make the world a better place… using one rhythm, one melody, and one harmony at a time.”

 -Eugene Uman, VJC Director