Art Lande Biography

Grammy-nominated Art Lande is considered one of the premiere improvisational jazz pianists today. He began piano at age 4, studied at Williams College & moved to San Francisco in 1969. He has mostly carved out his own singular path throughout his career, taking the innovations of Bill Evans several steps further. In 1973 he recorded with Jan Garbarek and Ted Curson and in the mid-1970's had started his own jazz school. In 1976 he formed the quartet Rubisa Patrol which recorded for ECM and lasted until 1983. After teaching for three years in Switzerland, Lande in 1987 moved to Boulder, Colorado. He appears in many of the "Who's Who in Jazz" encyclopedias available today for his role in the development of "Chamber Jazz."

  • Pianist, drummer, composer and teacher, born Feb. 5, 1947 in New York City.

  • Bandleader since 1970 in San Francisco, Seattle, Switzerland and Colorado.

    Groups have included:
  • Quintet with Steve Swallow and Eliot Zigmund (70-72), Rubisa Patrol with Mark Isham and Bill Douglass (74-81), Trio with Gary Peacock (81-82), Ionia with Paul McCandless

  • (85), Russian Dragon Band (89--).


  • Played with many jazz greats inluding Bobby Hutcherson, Gary Burton, Woody Shaw, Nat Adderley, Chet Baker, Charlie Haden, Eddie Harris, Joe Henderson, John Abercrombie as weIl as vocalists Ernestine Anderson, Jon Hendricks, Jimmy Witherspoon, Mark Murphy, Nancy Wilson…

  • Composer and arranger of well over 100 compositions including "Times and Places" for orchestra('86).

  • Varied jazz experience with bebop, free improvisation, standards, and salsa played in different performance formats from solo piano to small group to big band.

  • Work with dance (Tandy Beal & Co. '88--), poetry, theatre, puppet theatre, and children's stories.

  • Performed all over the U.S., in Canada, and in most European countries.,

  • Feature performances at Jazz Festivals in San Diego, Berkeley, Bellevue(Seattle), Hamburg, Zurich, and Reims (France).

  • Noted teacher; devised innovative courses for improvisation and ear training.

  • Has lead improvisation workshops in many parts of the U.S., Canada and Europe.

 

Bands

When Art returns to Colorado after wintering in Arizona, rehearsals get ramped-up, schedules expand and there is always a stack of new tunes to dig into. Check back often for the latest updates.