Grand Encounters 23/24

Cyrus Chestnut, who served on the 2023 American Pianists Awards jury, will balance soulful style and full-bore swinging in February. In his own words, "This country and this art form are founded on the basic principles of freedom, whereby a person is able to think, say, or play what he or she chooses. All of my predecessors, regardless of what environment was, shared freely their thoughts and feelings in a swinging, musical way on the bandstand. They swung hard and made the listeners feel better leaving than when they arrived. This is the tradition I intend to preserve."