GreenRoom Exchange & Origins Jazz are excited to announce the upcoming performance by Grammy Award Winning Argentine Jazz Pianist Leo Genovese!Leo will perform a solo piano concert at Lexington’s Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center Black Box Theater on Saturday July 15th at 7:00 P.M.
So who is Leo Genovese?
He’s a THRILLING piano player we first heard perform at last winter’s Origins Jazz concert with the Jeff Coffin Quartet. The keys almost flew off the piano; we have never heard anyone play the piano with such passion and mastery!
Leo is excited to comeback to the Bluegrass for a solo concert. He was born in Argentina, in 1979 and began playing the piano at the age of 5. In 2001 he began his studies Berklee College of Music under Danilo Perez, Joanne Brackeen and Frank Carlberg.
Leo has performed regularly with the Esperanza Spalding, Wayne Shorter and Jack DeJohnette, and is most visible now as the touring keyboardist for reunited progressive rockers The Mars Volta.
He won a Grammy Award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his performance on "Endangered Species" from Wayne Shorter's final album Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival.
Why are GreenRoom and Origins Jazz collaborating?
When an artist from another culture is also a great jazz musician, it’s a natural collaboration! Leo Genovese is a celebrated contemporary jazz pianist, with roots deep in his home country of Argentina. We think you’ll appreciate the unique musical style he brings to Lexington.
When asked what recent project of his interweaves Latin American influences in an especially unique way, Genovese points to his 2022 album Ritual. "There are some Argentinian folkloric DNA elements in there," Genovese says. “Cousins and sisters and far-away relatives of this music were merging in different parts of the continent with the mixture of African people, Indigenous people, and European people," Genovese explains. "All of this is something that's still giving fruit, it's still unfolding," he adds. "I think we are still looking into the question of who we really are.”
Join us in celebrating this rich expression of cultural traditions!
With special thanks to LexArts and Willis Music for supporting GreenRoom Exchange and the Arts in the Bluegrass!