6/1/19:</br>Geoffrey Keezer

Geoffrey Keezer is not smiling in this photo. In my experience, this is atypical as his smile seems ever-present when he plays. If I could play like him, I would be smiling too. We welcome this piano jazz master for a solo turn @exuberance and I predict that our audience will be all smiles in due course.

Reviewing Geoffrey’s performance last year at South, Victor Shermer wrote: "The first thing that has to be said about Keezer is that his piano technique is almost unrivaled. Art Tatum and the great classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz come to mind as competitors.”

At 18, he commanded the piano chair of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Poetic continuity: the night before he hits here, he will be playing at the Kennedy Center with Ralph Peterson’s Messenger Legacy band.

With over 20 albums as leader, Keezer has performed with the likes of Ray Brown, Joshua Redman, Diana Krall, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Dianne Reeves, Jim Hall, Roy Hargrove, David Sanborn, Chris Botti, Sting, Joe Locke and Christian McBride.

For documentary evidence of this pianist, YouTube banks a proverbial embarrassment of riches. For example (and your approval):

“Mr. Keezer is the kind of straight-ahead piano player you wish for: multifaceted, responsive, constantly sifting through colors and shapes, bursting with a personal and sincere enthusiasm.”

- The New York Times

A rare chance to witness this compelling artist.

@exuberance parties at Matt’s are by invitation only to provide a dignified, comfortable and acoustically ideal setting for worthwhile art and ideas. Cellphones and other devices are to be holstered during the performances. Between sets, conviviality rules.