Bryan Pezzone – Piano Pieces from Mozart, Schubert, Elgar and Pezzone
Bryan Pezzone is an incredible pianist who is equally comfortable with classical and jazz. His improvisations fuse both genres.
I first met Bryan when we were both teaching at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California back in 1988. Here was this very young pianist that loved to play contemporary music and as a composer of music with great affection for the piano, I approached him about performing a piece of mine for the 1989 New Music America concert. I had a piece selected for a performance as part of the festival, which would be played at Alice Tully Hall in Manhattan. My piece was for MIDI grand piano and computer controlled spatialization and he performed it incredibly well (it was one of my proudest moments as a composer).
We worked together on a number of other occasions at the school and around southern California and he never ceased to amaze me with his unique ability to put his hands on the keyboard and play virtually anything written on a music staff AND to improvise in any style and on any theme. Bryan Pezzone is a musical phenomenon, a true genius of the piano and a very serious thinker. I left Cal Arts in 1989 and have been recording music and doing a variety of things in the intervening years. Bryan left Cal Arts in 2000 to pursue additional opportunities as a musician playing for motion picture soundtracks, recording endless tracks for Yamaha’s MIDI pianos and performing with ensembles for concerts and CDs.
When MB Gordy mentioned Bryan to me when I was looking for projects to capture in 3D, I was thrilled that he was able to participate. Rarely, have our sessions been so relaxed, friendly and easy to manage. This is man that can sit down at the instrument and connect immediately with anyone that’s listening. For this particular recording, he easily passed between repertoire from Mozart, Elgar and Schubert and his own improvisations, including an amazing spinning out of ‘We Shall Overcome’.
It is my sincere hope that through this project more people will come to know the amazing talent his possesses and the magic of the music that Bryan creates. He is truly one of the most musically gifted musicians I have ever met.
Audio Samples:
- Bliss Ballad – Pezzone
- Salut D’amour – Elgar
- Healing – Pezzone
- Mozart Club Sandwich
- Improvisation – Pezzone
- Sonata In E-Flat Mvt. 1 K. 282 – Adagio – Mozart
- Improvisation – Pezzone
- Sonata In C Major Mvt. 1 K. 330 – Allegro Moderato
- Improvisation – Pezzone
- Morning Prayer – Pezzone
- Impromptu Op.90 #1 In C – Schubert
- Improvised Variations On ‘We Shall Overcome’ – Pezzone
- Berceuse – Pezzone
