Kev Choice Trio

Dec 09, 2017

Joe Henderson Lab

PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production

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Original show description below.

The only reason Kev Choice isn’t better known on the West Coast jazz scene is that he’s spent much of the past two decades immersed in hip hop and R&B. But make so mistake, the Oakland-reared pianist is a highly trained improviser with deep insights into the jazz tradition. In his trio, he draws on his love of Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Mulgrew Miller, and Robert Glasper, exploring his multifarious original compositions and arrangements of classic hip-hop, jazz, and soul material.

His fourth solo album and first project focusing on his instrumentals, 2016’s 88 Steps to Eternity, brought his improvisational prowess to the foreground. Choice is also a producer and in-demand sideman who’s toured and recorded with Michael Franti and Spearhead, Lyrics Born, Too $hort, Ledisi and fellow Skyline High grad Goapele. In 2007, Lauryn Hill recruited him as music director, and he spent 18 months touring internationally with her. More recently he’s collaborated with The Coup, Dwele, Martin Luther, and Amel Larrieux. As a leader, he’s performed widely with the Kev Choice Ensemble, his jazz-hip-hop-funk big band, but the trio offers the most unmediated experience of an artist expanding the possibilities of African-American music.

Artist Website

The trio offers the most unmediated experience of an artist expanding the possibilities of African-American music.