Laurence Hobgood
Email
hobgoodl@newschool.edu
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Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, producer, Yamaha® artist and Grammy® winner Laurence Hobgood has enjoyed a 30+year career. Highlights include: three consecutive Fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival (1990, '91, '92), being chosen as a 1995 Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts, a 2003 Deems Taylor Award given by ASCAP for the year’s outstanding music journalism, multiple Grammy® nominations and a 2010 Grammy® Award. He's played at many of the world’s most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the White House, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Tanglewood, Hollywood Bowl, and the Sydney Opera House.
For almost 20 years he served as pianist/arranger/collaborator/co-producer for singer Kurt Elling during which time he wrote virtually all of the material on Elling's first ten albums, all of which received Grammy® nominations.
His 2009 CD, “When The Heart Dances”, featured duets with iconic bassist Charlie Haden.
His "Christmas" CD was chosen by both the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune as one of the best Holiday CDs of 2013.
He’s currently involved in an ongoing recording/performance project, "Poemjazz", with 3-time U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky; their second CD, "House Hour", was released in 2015.
His 2016 trio CD, "Honor Thy Fathers", features bassist John Patitucci and drummer Kendrick Scott. JazzTimes' Michael West praised the work, saying:
"It’s easy to hear similarities between Laurence Hobgood’s piano and that of Brad Mehldau . . . The album is a sublime statement—perhaps the first of 2016."
Laurence's newest project is called “t e s s e t e r r a"; Hobgood combines his love of jazz trio and writing for string quartet with uplifting arrangements of what he calls the "expanded songbook" -- repertoire ranging from Cole Porter to Crosby Stills & Nash, Paul McCartney to Hoagie Carmichael, Sting to Chopin.
The writing embodies the signature style of composing and arranging Hobgood has become known for: imaginatively innovative yet fun and thoroughly accessible to audiences. He's reunited with the celebrated, New York-based string quartet ETHEL and at the core lies the ebullient playing of his trio which features Jared Schonig on drums and Matthew Clohesy on bass.
“t e s s e t e r r a” will be released in March of 2019 on UK-based Ubuntu Records.