JOAN STILES
pianist * composer * recording artist
Three Musicians (on Oo-Bla-Dee Records) is pianist/composer Joan Stiles’ 3rd CD--a joyful, interactive outing with Joel Frahm (saxophone) and Matt Wilson (drums).
JOAN STILES on JASON CRANE’S “THE JAZZ SESSION” -
Interview + musical excerpts from Three Musicians.
LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD FOR LATER.
http://thejazzsession.com/2011/11/18/the-jazz-session-325-joan-stiles/
“This unusually flexible trio is marked by such playful counterpoint, mercurial shifting and spontaneous, deconstructive interplay that it could almost be placed in the comedy bins...Not to suggest that these players aren’t also swinging fervently...Three very fertile minds at work here, coming together in copacetic fashion, often with subversive, tongue-in-cheek intent.”
---Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times (2/21/12)
Joan Stiles recently joined the roster of pianists who have appeared on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz Show and her music was featured on WBGO’s hour-long “Jazz from the Archives.” For over a decade, she has been re-arranging and performing the music of Mary Lou Williams in the ongoing concert series, “Mostly Mary Lou.” Her “Hurly-Burly” sextet (Jeremy Pelt, Steve Wilson, Joel Frahm, Ben Williams and Lewis Nash) celebrated Williams’ birthday at Iridium. Last April, Stiles played a solo concert at Rutgers’ Dana Library in the “Generations” series curated by Ed Berger. At the “Monk at 92” piano marathon at NYC’s Wintergarden, she played Monk’s “Nutty” and “Introspection.” Her latest project is an adventurous, highly interactive trio with Joel Frahm and Matt Wilson. Their new CD, Three Musicians follows the success of Stiles’ last CD, Hurly-Burly, which garnered a 4-star review in Downbeat and was a top-ten staple on JazzWeek radio stations.
“Joan Stiles possess the chops, craft, imagination, wit and sophistication to be mentioned in a conversation with the most distinguished descendants of Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Mary Lou Williams.”
--Ted Panken, Downbeat
“With Stiles and Monk, wit and beauty are not mutually exclusive.”
--Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes
“Joan Stiles writes and plays brilliantly with great respect for melody and clarity...She is an authentic original!”
--Dave Frishberg
HEAR SAMPLES and ORDER at Amazon.com
PURCHASE TRACKS or ALBUM at itunes
No upcoming performances -- recuperating from “spring break” injury and surgical repair of arm and shoulder.
JOAN STILES on MARIAN MACPARTLAND’S PIANOJAZZ
FOLLOW LINK to NPR ARCHIVE to LISTEN TO THE SHOW