Cyrus Chestnut

Chesnut has continued to work and record as a bandleader into the 21st century.

Cyrus Chestnut (born January 17, 1963) is an American jazz pianist, composer and producer.

Cyrus Chestnut was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1963, the son of McDonald (a retired post-office employee and church pianist) and Flossie (a city social services worker and church choir director).

Chestnut began learning the piano at the age of seven, and in his boyhood played at Mount Calvary Baptist Church.

By the age of nine, he was studying classical music at the Peabody Institute.

It includes jazz interpretations of some well-known pop numbers of the past half-century, including "If", the early 1970s soft-rock ballad by Bread.

"This song has been with me ever since the sixth grade," Chestnut recalled, "I had to play it for my English teacher's wedding. I've played it in many and various contexts. I actually played it in a Top 40 band when I was just out of school. A lot of time has passed, but then recently I just started thinking about it again."

Chestnut's own "Mason–Dixon Line" is one of the album's high points, a joyful bebop number.

With Gerald Albright

With Carl Allen

With Carl Allen & Rodney Whitaker

With Tiffany Austin

With Gary Bartz

With Kathleen Battle

With Alexander Berenson

With Dee Dee Bridgewater

With Jeri Brown

With Ronnie Burrage

With Ann Hampton Callaway

With Betty Carter

With James Carter

With Michael Carvin

With Freddy Cole

With Carla Cook

With Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet

With Dee Daniels

With Michael Dease

With Dr. John and the Donald Harrison Band

With Cynthia Felton

With The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band

With Jimmy Greene

With Mark Gross

With Roy Hargrove

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chestnut worked with Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, and other bandleaders.

In 1985, Chestnut earned a degree in jazz composition and arranging from Boston's Berklee College of Music.

He joined the band of jazz vocalist Betty Carter in the early 1990s and appeared on her 1992 album It's Not About the Melody. That same year, he recorded his first albums as a bandleader, The Nutman Speaks and Nut.

In 2006, Josh Tyrangiel, music critic for Time, wrote: "What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon notes and play space."

In 2006, Telarc released Genuine Chestnut, his first album for the label.

On it he is accompanied by his regular trio of Michael Hawkins, bass and Neal Smith, drums.

Additional artists on this session include Russell Malone, guitar and Steven Kroon, percussion.