About Jason Moran
Jason Moran is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator involved in multimedia art and theatrical installations.
Moran recorded first with Greg Osby and debuted as a band leader with the 1999 album Soundtrack to Human Motion. Since then, Moran has released albums with his trio The Bandwagon, solo, as a sideman, and with other bands. He combines post-bop and avant-garde jazz, blues, classical music, stride piano, and hip hop.
Moran was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in the Pleasantville neighborhood of Houston. His parents, Andy, an investment banker, and Mary, a teacher, encouraged his musical and artistic sensibilities at the Houston Symphony, museums and galleries, and through a relationship with John T. Biggers and a collection of their own. Moran began training at classical piano playing, in Yelena Kurinets' Suzuki method music school, when he was six. However, his father's extensive record collection , varied from Motown to classical to avant-garde jazz.
As a boy he developed a preference for hip hop music over the piano until, at the age of 13, he first heard the song "′Round Midnight" by Thelonious Monk at home, and switched his efforts to jazz. Monk's childlike melodies, with their many silent spaces, struck him as relatively easy to play and not overly ornate, while the rhythms were reminiscent of hip hop songs, and the harmonies unorthodox. Both jazz and hip hop were part of Houston's skateboarding scene in which he was involved.
He attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts , graduating in 1993 from the jazz program headed by Robert Morgan. In his senior year, he was student director of the school's jazz combo and part of the Texas high school all-state jazz ensemble.
He then enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music, from which he would graduate in 1997 with a BM degree, to study with pianist Jaki Byard. The next year he participated in Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead exclusive workshop, composing the piece "Make a Decision" for the final concert.
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