Over the course of his career, John Escreet has earned a reputation as one of the most active and diverse pianist/composers working in jazz and improvised music. His prolific output is reflected over the course of 6 diverse and critically acclaimed albums - the most recent being Sound, Space and Structures which partners his working Trio (with John Hébert on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums) with the iconic free-jazz saxophonist Evan Parker.

Bursting on to the scene with his 2008 debut album Consequences, Escreet quickly earned a reputation as one of the most exciting new pianist/composers to have emerged in recent years, with Downbeat magazine proclaiming “John Escreet’s recent debut Consequences signals the jumpstart of a new voice in jazz.” Similar praise followed for his 2010 sophomore release Don’t Fight The Inevitable, of which the New York Times’ Ben Ratliff said “… on an ambitious second album, the pianist John Escreet seems to be thinking about where jazz can go next. He’s using lots of structure and instrumental texture, cruising through different languages, straight-ahead and free and in between; it’s like a tour of the last 25 years of serious jazz.” 2011 saw two releases - The Age We Live In, and Exception To The Rule, followed by 2013’s Sabotage and Celebration, all of which received widespread international critical acclaim. The latest addition to this impressive catalog is 2014’s Sound, Space and Structures.

As well as being a leader of prolific output, Escreet is also a much sought-after sideman. He has toured extensively with Antonio Sanchez’s Migration band, recording on his 2013 Cam Jazz release New Life. He has also contributed his pianistic skills to the working bands of David Binney, Amir ElSaffar, Tyshawn Sorey, and Jamie Baum among many others.

John Escreet P I A N I S T / C O M P O S E R

John Escreet P I A N I S T / C O M P O S E R

In 2009, John was a recipient of the prestigious Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant, as well as the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming in 2011. In 2013, Escreet was commissioned by the Jazz Gallery to write a new work as part of their Residency/Commissions for 2012-2013, for which he wrote an extended work for string quartet and piano trio. 2014 saw John being awarded the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation USArtists International grant to tour with his Quartet, and recently in 2015 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), his Alma Mater - awarded to past students who have distinguished themselves in the music profession and made a significant contribution to it in their particular field.

John continues to forge ahead with multiple projects and recordings, ranging from his Trio, to his Quintet (known as The John Escreet Project), to collaborative projects with Los Angeles-based pop duo KNOWER, to the most recent collaboration with British free-jazz icon Evan Parker, as well as his recent forays into writing for strings. His music is often described as eclectic, and is perhaps best summed up by the New York City Jazz record:

“Escreet is a musical omnivore who embraces aspects of contemporary classical music, Frank Zappa, dance music, electronica and a wide swath of jazz, from bop to avant-garde. What comes out is uniquely personal - some of the most inventive and distinct jazz around today.”

“Transatlantic Jazz Genius”

– Time Out London

“Pianist John Escreet’s recent debut “Consequences” signals the jumpstart of a new voice in jazz”

– Downbeat Magazine

“On “Don’t Fight the Inevitable”, an ambitious second album, the pianist John Escreet seems to be thinking about where jazz can go next”

– Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

"Sabotage and Celebration finds this precociously accomplished small-ensemble composer relishing a broader palette. He's a big talent.”

- John Fordham, The Guardian, UK

“John Escreet, who is only 25 years old, is generally considered to be one of the most talented and innovative pianists of his generation.”

- North Sea Jazz Festival (2010)

"Tension. Fear. Drama. Resolution. Joy. Comfort. On his excellent fifth album as a leader, John Escreet expresses a range of emotion and the kind of narrative arc

that wouldn't be out of place in an opera.”

- Downbeat Magazine

“Escreet, who is British but Brooklyn-based, smartly and ambitiously rides the leading edge of contemporary jazz.”

– The Ottawa Citizen

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CRITICS' CHOICE; New CDs: John Escreet

By NATE CHINEN Published: December 1, 2008

JOHN ESCREET ''Consequences'' (Posi-Tone)

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John Escreet, a British jazz pianist in his mid-20s, has no problem communicating drama. ''Consequences,'' his highly accomplished debut, opens with a half-hour composition -- ''The Suite of Consequence'' -- that divides almost imperceptibly into three parts. The piece at large is a whorl of high-impact quintet engagement, combustible solo digressions, calmly contemplative passages and flashes of mounting suspense. A lot happens there, and each moment carries its own sharp glint of conviction.

Mr. Escreet has been based in New York for the last two years, earning a master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music and studying with two generations of pianistic modernists, Kenny Barron and Jason Moran. He has also plugged into an active network of open-minded composer-improvisers, some of whom appear here. The John Escreet Project, as he calls his superb band, features David Binney on alto saxophone, Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Matt Brewer on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. (The group is scheduled to appear at the Jazz Gallery in the South Village on Jan. 22; see johnescreet.com for details.)

As an instrumentalist Mr. Escreet has both his ruminative and expansive sides, drawing no clear distinction between them. He takes a moment to affirm his contemporary bona fides with ''Dilemma,'' employing Fender Rhodes electric piano and a shadowy, irregular pulse. But his best playing comes in radiant bursts, in the opening suite and on a tune titled ''Wayne's World,'' presumably after the saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

The album ends with an allusion to another obvious yet unobtrusive influence, the pianist and composer Andrew Hill. By including one of Mr. Hill's early ballads, ''No Doubt,'' Mr. Escreet establishes a lineage while also making a claim. By playing it unaccompanied, he imbues his reading with the kind of dramatic tension that feels convincingly personal. External link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/arts/music/01choi.html?ref=todayspaper

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MUSIC REVIEW | JOHN ESCREET PROJECT Building Bridges With a Post-Bop Ideal

By NATE CHINEN Published: January 23, 2009

! John Escreet began his first set at the Jazz Gallery on Thursday night with a solo piano rumination, soft but stern. He was playing “No Doubt,” by the pianist-composer Andrew Hill, as an invocation, and maybe a stylistic pledge of allegiance. But then when he struck up a tempo to cue his band, the theme it hammered out was a choppy thing called “Unison,” by the British saxophonist Jason Yarde.

That juxtaposition says something about Mr. Escreet, who moved to New York from England a few years ago. Now in his mid-20s, he approaches music with a broad perspective and a knack for drawing connections. Mr. Hill, who died in 2007, can be a touchstone for him, but so can Mr. Yarde, who’s closer to his age and scarcely known on this side of the Atlantic. It all feeds a purpose of dynamic abstraction, the progressive post-bop ideal.

Mr. Escreet recently released his first album, “Consequences” (Posi-Tone), featuring a New York group he calls the John Escreet Project: the alto saxophonist David Binney, the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, the bassist Matt Brewer and the drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Here, with Zack Lober substituting for Mr. Brewer, the band was both elastic and fervent.

In the spirit of Mr. Hill — and Jason Moran, with whom he has studied — Mr. Escreet wants his performances to feel sudden and changeable. His solo on “Unison” was one long crescendo, all stuttering rumble and cresting tide. Mr. Binney, up next, ordered a breakneck swing tempo, his notes forming gusty arcs. When it was Mr. Akinmusire’s turn, the band fell away, leaving him space for a pointillist concerto.

The episodic strategy for the band flattered no one more than Mr. Akinmusire, an expert colorist with imposing technique. He delivered the most striking solo of the set on an Escreet original called “Dilemma,” flirting with free improvisation but keeping a toehold in melody. Even at his most texture-minded, with whinnies and slurs, he made sense.

The same was true later, when he made his trumpet evoke a sputtering turbine on “Wayne’s World,” another piece by Mr. Escreet (named for Wayne Shorter, not the movie). This time he wasn’t alone: Mr. Binney, hissing through his reed, and Mr. Sorey, thumping his bass drum with a mallet, helped stir the air. They paused only for a dash of pianism by Mr. Escreet, who treated it as a transition, another bridge to build.

External link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/arts/music/24escr.html

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By BEN RATLIFF Published: July 4, 2010 John Escreet

On “Don’t Fight the Inevitable” (Mythology), an ambitious second album, the pianist John Escreet seems to be thinking about where jazz can go next. With an excellent band, including the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and the saxophonist David Binney, he’s using lots of structure and instrumental texture, cruising through different languages, straight-ahead and free and in between; it’s like a tour of the last 25 years of serious jazz. He’s prompted by some clear examples: Jason Moran, who was one of his teachers, and Muhal Richard Abrams, an important elder whose compositions are hardly ever covered by anyone. In a version of Mr. Abrams’s “Charlie in the Parker” he inserts audio snippets of Parker’s voice, from a philosophical 1954 interview. “Music is basically melody, harmony and rhythm,” Parker says, “but, I mean, people can do much more with music than that. It can be very descriptive, in all kinds of ways.”

A version of this review appeared in print on July 4, 2010, on page AR15 of the New York edition

External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/arts/music/04playlist.html?src=twr