Neighborhood: Times Square and Harlem, Manhattan (will travel)
Ages taught: 5-Adult
Levels taught: beg-adv

 

Award-winning pianist, composer, and educator Jason Yeager creates music that is deeply expressive and multi-faceted, defying convention while reveling in the traditions of jazz, blues, 20th century classical music, and Latin American folk rhythms. He has released four albums of original music to wide acclaim, most recently All At Onceness (Red Piano Records) and United (Inner Circle Music), the latter of which was named a Best Album of 2017 by Downbeat Magazine. He was a finalist in the 2017 International Songwriting Competition, and won the 2014 Hot House Jazz Fans Decision Awards for best pianist and best organist.
 

As both a bandleader and sideman, Jason has performed at such venues as Birdland, the Blue Note, and Smalls Jazz Club in New York City; the Regattabar in Boston; the Green Dolphin in Capetown; Thelonious in Buenos Aires; the Panama Jazz Festival; and the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival. He has performed and/or recorded with such noteworthy artists as Luciana Souza, Steve Wilson, Ran Blake, Ayn Inserto, James Cammack, Jason Anick, Sara Serpa, Matt Wilson, Rudresh Mahantthappa, Julie Benko, Sean Jones, George Garzone, and more.
 

As an educator, Jason designs lessons to suit each individual students’ needs, balancing the teaching of fundamental musical skills with creative approaches to learning jazz and improvisation. Believing that all students have a unique musical capacity and learning style, Jason enjoys challenging students to joyfully pursue the music that most excites them, while also helping them develop their instrumental technique, ear training, repertoire, composition, and improvisation skills.
 

Currently based in New York City, Jason is Assistant Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music, where has taught since 2012. He is an honors graduate of the Tufts University/New England Conservatory Double Degree Program, from which he earned a B.A. in International Relations (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and a B.M. Jazz Performance (Pi Kappa Lambda). Jason earned his Master of Music degree from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. He has studied with some of the foremost jazz artists in the world today, including Danilo Pérez, Fred Hersch, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, Ran Blake, Jerry Bergonzi, and Terri Lynne Carrington. For more info, visit JasonYeager.com.
 

“…[Jason] always impressed me with his talent, his curiosity and his desire to create his own music while really investigating the jazz piano tradition.” -Fred Hersch, Grammy-nominated pianist/composer and Doris Duke Fellow
 

“An incredible composer and musician…[who] surprises you like a thunderbolt.” -Ran Blake, pianist/composer and MacArthur Grant recipient
 

“The evidence is clear on Affirmation, his second outing on…Inner Circle Music….With a highly interactive trio…Yeager stakes out his own unique territory…”  -Bill Milkowski, Downbeat Magazine