Jason Lindner

Jason Lindner
Jason Lindner in concert at the Treibhaus, Innsbruck
Background information
Born	(1973-02-01) February 1, 1973 New York, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, arranger
Instruments	Piano, keyboards
Years active	Mid-1990s–present

Jason Lindner (born February 1, 1973) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, composer and arranger.

Life and career

Lindner was brought up in Brooklyn, New York City.^[1] His father played the piano and sang, and Jason began playing the piano at the age of 2.^[1] He later attended the LaGuardia High School of Music and Art.^[1]

Lindner "made his mark during the 1990s", in part as leader of a big band that played at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City.^[2] He was also the club's house pianist around the time it opened in 1994.^[3] This band recorded the album Premonition in 1998^[3] and it was released in 2000,^[2] by which time Lindner had changed to leading a quintet.^[3] He performed and arranged for vocalist Claudia Acuña's first album, Wind from the South.^[2]

By 2004, Lindner was leading an electric group that consisted of Jacques Schwarz-Bart (sax), Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Reggie Washington (bass), and Gene Jackson (drums).^[3] His Now Vs. Now band began in 2006 as a quintet, with Cohen, Baba (beatbox, rap), Panagiotis Andreou (bass), and Mark Guiliana (drums).^[1] Lindner commented that "I wasn't playing jazz quartet gigs anymore. I was playing in a place where we could really experiment sonically, using electric bass, the drummer playing more groove-oriented beats and less straight ahead swing. [...] I wanted to appeal to ordinary people and not just a jazz audience."^[1]

Compositions

A 2004 observer commented that Lindner's compositions are often "buoyant, singable melodies enlivened by circular, interlocking rhythms that often coalesce, swell and burst into euphoric exclamations [...with] a mesmerizing, transportive vibe that seamlessly reconciles elements of Afro-Cuban, modern and modal jazz with R&B, hip-hop and house music."^[3] Between the release of Now Vs. Now's first and second albums, Lindner's compositions became influenced more by electronica.^[1]

Awards

In 2009, Lindner's band was the winner of the Big Band Rising Star category in Down Beat magazine's critics' poll.^[4] Lindner was Down Beat's critics' poll winner of the Keyboard Rising Star category in 2013.^[5]

Discography

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.

As leader/co-leader

As sideman

References