DON ALBERTS BIO
Don Alberts is more than a pianist, he's a piano stylist in the finest and most classical tradition of Jazz. His style is reminiscent of the dignity and panache of Duke Ellington and the eloquence of Bill Evans, yet clearly contemporary, and clearly his own.
Played with: Chet Baker, Leroy Vinnegar, David Friesen, Shorty Rogers, Bud Shank, John Handy, Bobby Shew, Francis Vanek, Al Molina, Vince Lateano, Bruce Foreman, and many others.
Don has developed his music through his relation with well
known musicians and performers having playing associations with great players like Leroy Vinnegar, Chet Baker, Shorty Rogers and Bud Shank, recordings with renowned bassist David Friesen, and a period as house pianist at the famous "Bop City" in San Francisco during the height of the 1960's creative music period.
A native of the San Francisco area, he attended San Jose City College as a music major and studied with Thomas Ryan at San Jose State. Don has appeared in many JAZZ venues and major festivals throughout the Northwest and Canada including the "Mount Hood Festival Of Jazz" in Portland, Oregon and studied piano for time with Jerome Grey of Seattle.
He also has gained note as a composer who's works are performed currently by trumpeter Al Molina, Tom Harrell, Saxophonist Francis Vanek and other San Francisco area artists.
In the period of the 1960's he wrote music for the crossover band "Flower" of which he was a member contributing his compositions; "The Lizard," "Waltz Ingenue,"and "Cerabella,"and also wrote compositions for the Virgil Gonsalves Group.
Don grew up in the Bay Area and learned his skills playing the San Francisco clubs in the 60's which exposed him to the challenging music of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bud Powell, much of which became part of his foundation, a style rooted deeply in bebop and the blues. The romantic side of his playing comes from the influence of pianist
Bill Evans with whom he exchanged some key compositions. One of those compositions was "Time Remembered."
Beginning piano at the age of ten, his earliest influence was the Boogie Woogie style of Mary Lou Williams. He eventually heard all the great players and pursued the music of his favorites; Teddy Wilson, Earl Hines, Errol Garner, George Shering, Nat Cole, Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Hampton Hawes, Red Garland, Barry Harris, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Clark, and Mulgrew Miller.
DISCOGRAPHY:
One of Don's early compositions, "The Lizard" appears on the CD album "Home Coming" with Tom Harrell, released in 1999 by bassist Gordon Stevens and published on "Life Force Records."
A second CD album on "Chill House Music" CHM 0002, was released in March of 2002 entitled, "Heroes," a trio format with bassist David Friesen and drummer Alan Jones which includes material from an earlier session for the album "Local Hero." The re-release of that 1988 recording is now available as a CD. This package includes some fine solo piano work and the re-introduction of three originals; "Local Hero," "Sarah's Theme," and "Until I Met You. "
Two more compositions; "The Blue Mirror" and "Furnace Blues" can be found on Francis Vanek's 1985 release, "Redwood Range" on Valentine Records.
A 1981 recording with the Northwest band, "Tangier" included three of his compositions: "Nightly Dancer," "Dixie Flyer," and "Tabledance," all of which were published on "Cisco Records."
"Rejuvenation" released in 2005 is a trio recorded in Taos New Mexico with drummer Deigo Arencon and bassist Don Russo featuring five of Don's original compositions plus two standards, Nardis and Autumn Leaves, published by DonMar Music Productions, 2005.
Awards: Don has received the prestigious ASCAP 2005 Jazz Composers Award for his recent book "Don Alberts Original Jazz Compositions Volume Five" published by Chill House Music. Available on the web at www.chillhousemusic.com/ and from the artist.
You may have caught him on television playing piano on the "The Late, Late Show" with Tom Snyder during an interview with Cheech Marin while filming at the Cypress Club in San Francisco. The recent Trio includes Frank Passantino (bass) and Buddy Barnhill (drums). All three are included in the historic photo "The San Francisco Giants of JAZZ."
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