Sun 2/21 @ 2PM
Pianist/composer Aaron Diehl has his feet in two musical worlds: jazz and classical.
The 33-year-old Columbus native, who comes from a musical family, graduated from New York’s Juilliard School with a degree in jazz studies. Spotted by superstar jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition when he was just 17, he toured Europe with Marsalis’ Septet before enrolling at Juilliard.
His influences include Ahmad Jamal, Errol Gardner, Art Tatum, George Gershwin (whose Piano Concerto in F he’s performed with the Cleveland Orchestra), Thelonious Monk, Phillip Glass, Maurice Ravel and one of the 20th century’s major black composers, William Grant Still, who studied at Oberlin Conservatory. And with his own trio he delve into that jazz staple, the Great American Songbook.
Diehl will be as part of the free Tri-C Classical Piano Series, which usually takes place at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday afternoons, but which will be online. He’ll perform pieces by Still, Fats Waller, Willie “The Lion” Smith, John Lewis and Mary Lou Williams. Go here to access the free streamed performance.