Petros Klampanis ft. Kristjan Randalu & Ziv Kravitz – Latent Info

early next year will see the release of the album the guesthouse, a new chapter in shai maestro’s creative journey. in the past years, the pianist developed his solo work, becoming a worthy successor to his great examples keith jarrett and chick corea, with a rich sound and open-ended improvisations. now he will focus on short compositions with clear, song-like forms. the album toom shape in his home studio in spain and was influenced by different artists ranging from rosalía to paul simon and john coltrane. shai maestro began playing classical piano at the age of five and after listening to oscar peterson at the age of eight he became enamoured with jazz. he turned down offers from prestigious american music schools to join the trio of famous double bassist avishai cohen at age nineteen. for five years he celebrated success with cohen and drummer mark guiliana. in his current band, shai maestro seeks interaction with gadi lehavi on rhodes and synthesizers, known from the ravi coltrane quartet. ‘maestro certainly lives up to his name. he is a joy to watch live’ (jazzwise).

with his fluent piano playing, emmet cohen brings the tradition of jazz to the forefront while providing the modern twist needed for the current times. on his breakthrough album future stride he breathed new life into the one hundred year old style of piano virtuosos such as james p. johnson and fats waller. the title of his following album uptown in orbitreferences blues in orbit by duke ellington, as well as the new york neighborhood harlem (‘uptown’)—cohen lives there in the same street as ellington once lived. emmet cohen’s apartment has become a hotspot thanks to youtube—it is where he records the popular series live from emmet’s place, with sessions that feature illustrious guest musicians such as veronica swift, nicolas payton en christian mcbride. cohen learned vintage piano styles through his regular gigs in jazz clubs and by collaborating with veterans such as benny golson, ron carter and jimmy cobb. as a finalist of the thelonious monk international piano competition, emmet cohen was received at the white house by president obama at age twenty-one.