Quotes
"Jake is an indisputable talent with high musical sensitivity and exquisite taste, demonstrated in his skills as a jazz pianist and unprejudiced avant-garde musician as a composer and performer. The music that Jake Hart offers us is sincere, virtuous and new. I am sure of his constant growth and the strength of his ideas and objectives backed by great talent, solid musical education and perseverance. Jake offers himself to us as a musician who loves and respects music without prejudice or barriers.”
- Gonzalo Rubalcaba
“Jake Hart is a phenomenal musical talent. He is equally at home in the subtle, refined world of classical, tonal music styles and emotions, and the most complex harmonic and emotional landscapes of atonal and dissonant music. He also commands the piano with his coloristic and virtuoso technique.”
“Jake’s creativity knows no boundaries. He blends several hundred years of western musical styles into his own unique art form. On the genius level, Jake is truly the new avant-garde."
- Barbara Lister-Sink
“Jake Hart is truly a unique and special performing and composing talent on the piano - one whose prowess spans from jazz and bebop to contemporary classical music. He is a tremendous improvisor who has developed a bebop-influenced style, yet one expressed through his own unique musical lens. For me, Hart’s solo piano playing is especially endearing: steeped in the solo piano tradition, yet with such a beautifully personal approach to harmony and rhythm. His latest foray into contemporary composition has brought some incredibly inventive and adventurous music out of him, and I can’t wait to hear more of it!”
- Martin Bejerano
“Jake recently sent me a recording of himself playing one of his pieces. The level of playing and writing completely blew me away. I expected it to be good but instead, heard a work of great imagination, power and depth, played with power and passion. We can look forward to great things from him!”
- Rick Margitza
“Occasionally I hear a young musician who plays jazz great and has a lot of promise. Once in a while, I hear a piece by a young composer which would be impressive no matter what his or her age is. But I doubt I’ve ever heard both rolled into one, certainly not at this high a level!”
- Marc Copland
“Jake Hart is a multi-talented musician. His piano playing and composing both display the highest level of musicianship.”
- Steve Ash
“Thelonious Monk once wrote, ‘A genius is the one who is most like himself’. And when I listen to pianist Jake Hart I feel that this is his intent, bringing into existence music that is pure and deliberate self expression. With intelligence and grace he draws upon various genres in the moment in order to create something that is honest, original, and compelling.”
- Paul Gill
"Jake as a pianist, has his bases covered, from a swinging post-bop style to impressive improvisations based on chromatic music concepts, all executed with aplomb.”
- Phil Markowitz
"A great new talent, Jake Hart leads a brand-new generation of jazz musicians. He is an impressive composer and a highly accomplished pianist, unlimited by his remarkable imagination. The future is here."
- Sean Smith
“Jake Hart is a gifted composer and pianist in both classical and jazz music. His classical writing shines with compelling modern harmony and wistful lyricism, and his bebop swings hard with masterful command of the bebop language.”
- Brian Charette
“One of the ways I become enlightened to the reality that I’m experiencing great art, is the moment I become aware of its constant newness, when each and every visit seems to reveal more and more of itself, provoking thought, imagery, forms and feelings of which prior to the initial encounter I was unaware. Jake Hart’s Collage is definitely falling into the category of great art for me. This is a superb modern work, composed within the realm of a complex genre. Every note, rhythm, chord, color, texture, nuance and dynamic is performed completely from memory! What planet is this guy from? Bravo, Jake!”
- Stephen Riley
“Jake Hart has created a musical universe for himself, which is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. He is a galaxy, a star seed. I eagerly await his next artistic utterance.”
- Doug Weiss
“Mr. Hart possesses a stunning technique, with a wide palette of textures and colors. At the same time it is evident that he has had serious encounters with the jazz masters like Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and Barry Harris. The combination of these two factors along with being an incredible composer with shades of late Scriabin bursting from his latest work, is truly impressive and awe-inspiring.”
- Jeb Patton
"Jake Hart is a formidable talent, both as a player and composer. He is on his way to becoming a welcome addition to the list of artists that have made very strong musical contributions to the world of contemporary music. I look forward to witnessing his trajectory.”
- Billy Drummond
"At a relatively young age, Jake Hart is already a profound musical thinker, has a deep and seemingly inexhaustible reserve of ideas to draw from, and displays a remarkably mature touch on the piano. I look forward to hearing more from this promising artist.”
- Ben Monder
"Jake Hart is a consummate pianist. He is technically facile; able to combine his talent with a four-dimensional language in contemporary composition. It will certainly be fascinating to follow his career henceforth because the sky is the limit.”
- Walt Weiskopf
“I would describe Jake Hart’s Collage as inventive, dissonant, melodic, rhythmically sophisticated and very emotional. It took two separate listening sessions to get through it; but like the feeling of finishing a good book, this piece and performance has enriched my life.”
- Joe Magnarelli
“Jake Hart is truly a unique phenomenon versed in both classical music and jazz. Jake has found a personal lyrical voice in all that he does. A virtuoso pianist whose technique only serves the music. There is not a wasted note in his playing or composition. You can actually hear the humbleness of his spirit. It just flows from him with seemly no effort.
In his inventive and challenging solo piece Collage, one hears all the deep roots of the classical tradition leading up through the 20th century. This piece displays dissonant harmony and counterpoint yet brings an inner beauty with attention to detail. It holds the listeners ear right to the end. He has a real story to tell.
Then comes his jazz playing. Once again deeply rooted in Bud Powell, Monk, and the masters. With all this influence Jake manages to shine with his own voice. Take a listen to his version of the Eternal Triangle and you will hear him dance through Rhythm Changes. One smiles when hearing Jake having fun using lines from Sonny Rollins solo as a springboard into his own individuality.
It is rare to hear such a well-rounded artist being so well accomplished in so many genres. Jake is a tour de force.
I am his fan, and will continue to love all that he does. I can only imagine what he has in store for us in years to come.”
- Garry Dial
“Jake Hart is an incredibly talented young pianist and composer. His composition Collage is unique, intricate and creative. Be on the lookout for this phenom!”
- Alex Brown
“Jake Hart is a painter of sound. A pianist who plays with unabashed inspired originality, he is a must-hear for any fan of creative music.”
- Allen Farnham
“When I first heard Jake Hart he was relentlessly pursuing a pared down bebop piano approach in the spirit of Bud Powell, Barry Harris or Sonny Clark; with the recording Collage his playing reveals an astonishing evolutionary development in style, technique, sound, historical reference and content that is fascinating to witness. Listening to his composition Collage I’m reminded of the freedom, range and sonic character revealed in “The Piano Music” of 1909 Arnold Schoenberg, of the atmospherically orchestrated piano pieces of Tori Takemitsu and the rhythmically powerful and harmonically inclusive playing of Richie Beirach, but Jake is not an imitator. Jake’s music is his own, drawn from his personal creative well of musical elements that include and refer to the past without mimic; indeed, this music expresses our modern, complex life and points to a way forward. I can’t imagine what his next recording will bring! Bravo, Jake!”
- Andy Middleton
“Jake is a fully formed, mature musician. His music is alive with the spark of inspired improvisation and finely crafted composition. His music is deep, honest and original. His artistry is high-level indeed.”
- Anthony Pinciotti
"Being a long time and close family friend of the Harts, I watched Jake grow up. As a child he would often gravitate to the piano for us and improvise very fluent, avant-garde classical pieces. I was always astonished. As he has grown, Jake continues to expand and fuse these concepts with well studied styles of the great historical and modern jazz pianists. As I listen to his new recordings, his brilliance of the past, present and future reach out to be heard; a young and very accomplished new voice on the horizon of now! Keep moving forward Jake. You own something very special.”
- Tim Horner
"Jake Hart is an extremely talented and accomplished musician. His piano playing and composing both display a deep knowledge of the tradition and great creativity."
- Paul Meyers
"I’m keeping an ear out for Jake Hart. His playing and composing in the jazz and classical genres is deeply focused and rich in content.
An artist who combines in and out within their own voice always interests me. I look forward to hearing more from Jake Hart.”
- Jim Ridl
“Jake Hart has found a musical expression combining composition and improvisation that promises an exciting creative future for this most gifted and accomplished composer and pianist.”
- JB Floyd, Emeritus Chair
Dept of Keyboard Performance
Frost School Of Music
University of Miami
“I have known Jake Hart for all of his young life, and I believe him to be one of the most naturally talented people I have ever met. As his compositions and mastery of music in general are on the highest level, it is time to put Jake on your radar!”
- Bill Moring
“A dazzling technique, able to effectively communicate his own work and ideas, as well as others. His compositions are multi-faceted and demonstrate his ability to present a wide range of styles, and his remarkable solo improvisations remind us that this art is still alive, well and flourishing.”
- Kendall Durelle Briggs, Professor of Music, The Juilliard School
“Jake’s music has a flow, gentleness and lyricism that shines through the general absence of harmonic center and strict rhythmic time, and his touch at the piano is lovely. Truly fascinating music and beautiful to listen to.”
- Chris Potter