"Music is the way by which I share my soul"
--Geoffrey Keezer

At only 33, Geoffrey Keezer has already amassed a stunning discography and long list of credits as a sideman and leader, rightfully earning him virtuoso status among jazz pianists of his or any other generation.

Born and raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where both parents taught music, Keezer began his piano studies at the tender age of three. In his teens, he began to immerse himself in jazz, winning a high school competition to attend the 1987 NAJE Jazz Convention in Atlanta, where he earned the NAJE Young Talent Award and first caught the eye of the late master pianist, James Williams. Following high school graduation, he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Within a year, Williams had promoted Keezer to Sunnyside Records, which quickly signed the young pianist and released his first recordings, Waiting in the Wings (1989) and Curveball (1990).

Next stop: New York City and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. At only 18, Keezer (with support from Williams) was hired as Blakey's last pianist, with whom he recorded One For All (A&M, 1990). A string of acclaimed recordings as a leader followed in short order: Here and Now (Blue Note 1991), World Music (DIW/Columbia, 1992), Other Spheres (DIW, 1993), and Trio (Sackville, 1993). Over time he has played and recorded as sideman with a Who's Who in Jazz-- Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Gerry Mulligan, Ray Brown, Steve Nelson, Craig Handy, Steve Turre, Jon Faddis, Roy Hargrove, Terence Blanchard, Jeanie Bryson, Billy Pierce, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, George Coleman, Brian Lynch, Donald Harrison, Bobby Watson, and The Mingus Dynasty.

Keezer's experiences are wide-ranging: In 1992, he performed Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; he was commissioned to compose several pieces for public performance, including "Palm Reader" for the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, "Listen Look" for the Saint Joseph Ballet, and "Variables" (variations for piano and string quartet) for the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego. Keezer was a charter member of the Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, a piano quintet that featured James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, Harold Mabern, and Donald Brown and released two recordings, Four Pianos for Phineas (Evidence) and The Key Players (DIW/Columbia). In 1992-93, he toured internationally as a member of the "Three Musicians" with saxophonist Joshua Redman and bassist Christian McBride. Recently he has toured Europe and Japan with classical artist, Barbara Hendricks. Today, Keezer lives in Yokohama, Japan and New York City and leads a number of varying ensembles working in jazz, classical, rock, and world genres.

Keezer's recent recordings have only served to justify his early accolades, including Turn Up the Quiet (Columbia, 1998) featuring Diana Krall, Joshua Redman and Christina McBride. Zero One (Dreyfus, 1999) prompted high praise from Alex Steininger (Inmusicwetrust.com): "Keezer delivers sonically beautiful and timeless jazz piano as he stuns and mesmerizes you with his talent and expertise..." Two releases in 2003 Falling Up (MaxJazz) and Sublime (Telarc) reflect the spectrum of Keezer's talents as composer and interpreter: Sublime is a series of duets (with Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Benny Green and Mulgrew Miller), and includes original compositions honoring Hank Jones. Falling Up was described as "the most intriguing, most unusual, most addictive recording he has ever made" (Stereophile, December 2003) and includes Keezer's compositions and arrangements inspired by (and often accompanied by) Hawaiian slack key guitarist, Keola Beamer.

Whether deconstructing standards, exploring Hawaiian folk melodies, or developing uniquely haunting compositions, Keezer infuses an intellectual complexity and lyricism into every note. Said Time Magazine, Keezer displays "a refreshingly open-eared sensibility in the modern manner, and he has more than enough virtuosity and sheer musical wit and intelligence to weave all of his apparently disparate strands of influence into an original and compelling whole."

For more information and samples of music, visit www.geoffkeezer.com