Pianist JOHN KORDALEWSKI began playing professionally in Washington, D.C. in the late 1970s, and moved to Boston in 1991. In the words of Mike Joyce of the Washington Post, he “creates imaginative yet quite accessible music.” He has worked with such notable jazz musicians as Carl Grubbs, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Ricky Ford, Odean Pope, Avery Sharpe, Charlie Rouse, Cab Calloway, Webster Young, Andy McGhee, Bill Pierce, Steve Novosel, Byard Lancaster, Bill Lowe, Ronnie Burrage, Frank Lacy, and Yoron Israel. He has performed in concerts, clubs, and festivals throughout the Eastern United States and Canada, and also participated in numerous jazz education projects. He works regularly in the Boston area and beyond with his own trio, featuring bassist Steve Neil and legendary drummer Bobby Ward, and as a sideman for various vocalists and horn players. In the 1990s he was a core member of saxophonist Salim Washington’s 9-piece Roxbury Blues Aesthetic, which occupied a unique creative niche in the Boston jazz scene. He has numerous compositions to his credit, and arrangements for horn sections ranging from 3 to 13 horns in size. He performed in Julius Hemphill’s saxophone opera “Long Tongues,” and has directed performances of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music. He appears on the CD “Love in Exile” by Salim Washington and RBA. He received a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant in 2000 for a residency at Somerville High School. He also holds a doctorate in education from Harvard University.
MUSIC SAMPLES
Click on sample to hear song
