Dayton-based piano virtuoso brings hard-swingin' trio with a high level of improvisational artistry in BLU debut! Featuring Eddie Brookshire & Fenton Sparks.
The Keigo Hirakawa Trio is a hard hitting, hard swinging, jazz piano trio that reach the highest level of improvisational artistry. Hirakawa’s complex rhythmic and harmonic improvisation, Eddie Brookshire’s exploration of inside and outside sounds, and Fenton Sparks’s spontaneous reactions make each trio performance an adventurous endeavor. Acclaimed jazz pianist Stephen Scott describes Hirakawa’s playing as “full of inventiveness and a sense of adventure, creativeness and voracious angularity, aggressiveness, and jaggedness, passion and swing.” Jazz critic Mark Sullivan of AllAboutJazz.com characterizes the ensemble as “a true trio, not just piano plus two accompanists.” The legendary jazz guitarist George Benson remarked of the Trio’s show at Gilly’s in Dayton “I had to come to Dayton to hear real jazz!”
A jazz pianist with a unique sense of expressiveness and rhythm section interaction, Hirakawa brings highly personal and energetic style of improvisation to ensembles. He distinguishes himself with his articulate use of harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary and his leadership style on the bandstand. Based in Midwest, Hirakawa can be heard throughout the US and internationally. He has appeared on stage alongside Donald Byrd, JD Allen, Bob Moses, Bobby Lavell, Allen Vizzutti, Eddie Bayard, and Richie Barshay. Trained in New York City and at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, he was a student of many world-renowned jazz artists, including Danilo Perez, Stephen Scott, Harold Danko, Alan Pasqua, Ran Blake, Cecil McBee, Ralph Peterson, Jerry Bergonzi, Donald Byrd, John McNeil, George Garzone, Bob Moses, and Walt Weiskopf.
Catch this exceptional pianist and his aptly swingin’ band in a special Thursday night trio presentation – get tickets today!