Savannah Music Festival | March 22-April 7, 2012

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PIANO SHOWDOWN

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SMF APPEARANCES

  • PIANO SHOWDOWN
    March 26, 2012 5:30 PM
    Charles H. Morris Center

    SOLD OUT Buy Tickets

  • PIANO SHOWDOWN
    March 26, 2012 8:00 PM
    Charles H. Morris Center

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Sponsored by CRITZ, INC. & MERCEDES- BENZ USA
and THE NEISES FAMILY
Sponsored in part by Berkeley Hall
Additional support by William Donahue and Steinway piano sponsored by Excelsia Investment Advisors

SMF's original "Piano Showdown" productions have captured the hearts of audiences for the past eight years. Our 2012 edition places piano giants Kenny Barron and Cedar Walton alongside young sensations Kevin Bales and Aaron Diehl. Barron and Walton are NEA Jazz Masters and two of jazz music's most revered pianists. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "The most promising discovery that Wynton Marsalis has made since Eric Reed," Aaron Diehl's distinctive interpretations of Jelly Roll Morton, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington pay homage to the tradition while establishing an original voice. Winner of the American Pianist Association's Jazz Piano Competition, Kevin Bales has played with Rene Marie, James Moody, Marcus Printup, Bunky Green, Eddie Daniel and many others.

National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Kenny Barron began his career in the 1950s as a teenager, playing with such jazz greats as Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Lee Morgan and James Moody. He worked for years with Dizzy Gillespie, co-founded the group Sphere, played with Stan Getz in his final years, and has performed and collaborated with a who's who of jazz musicians. Mr. Barron is heralded by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the top jazz pianists of our time," and this recital promises to be very special. "...the most lyrical jazz pianist of our time." Jazz Weekly

NEA Jazz Master Cedar Walton first came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the 60s, in which he was the arranger in the band with Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter. His performances or recordings with John Coltrane, Kenny Dorham, J.J. Johnson and others have made him one of the most revered pianists in jazz.