JEFF GARDNER, pianist and composer, was born in New York in 1953. His studies include: classical piano with Ruth Schöntal and Ivan Tcherepnin, jazz piano with Hall Overton, Jaki Byard, John Lewis, Don Friedman and Charles Banacos, and harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger.

At the 1980 Monterey Jazz Festival in Rio de Janeiro he played with Victor Assis Brasil, Clark Terry, and Slide Hampton. He also performed in Brasil with Wayne Shorter, Hermeto Pascoal, Dori Caymmi, Robertinho Silva, and Mauricio Einhorn,
Pat Metheny, Helen Merrill, and Helio Delmiro.

In the U.S. he worked with Moacir Santos, Raul de Souza, Toninho Horta, Bob Sheppard, Rick Margitza, and Ron McClure. He has played solo concerts for French radio and television and led trios including J.F. Jenny-Clark, Andy McKee, Nene, and Barry Altschul. A highlight of his European career was the piano quartet with Martial Solal, Jaki Byard, and Paul Bley at Le Havre in 1985. Other artists with whom he has            toured and recorded include Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Harris, Steve Lacy, Gary Peacock, Eddie Gomez, Billy Hart, Kenny Wheeler, Andre Ceccarelli, Paulo Moura, Charlie Mariano, Etta Cameron, Hein van de Geyn, Norma Winstone and Alfredo Rodriguez.

Always open to new sounds, Jeff formed a duo mixing jazz and new music with radio drum player Andrew Schloss. They performed at the IRCAM in Paris, the Center for Art and Mediatechnology in Germany, as well as in the US. He has also performed classical-jazz fusion with soprano S'ange Susan Belling, with whom he he recorded the upcoming duo release "Lightsong", featuring jazz arrangements of Debussy, Villa Lobos, and other modern composers.

International concerts include the October Jazz Festival in Saint Lucia, the Jazz a la Plantation Festival in Martinique, the Paris Jazz Festival, Jazz D'Or Festival, the New Morning, the Groningen Jazz Days, numerous tours of Brasil, the Madajazzcar Festival in Madagascar and many European tours solo and in a quartet with co-leader Rick Margitza on sax. In 1996 Jeff took his trio on a 3 week tour of the Japanese Blue Note Clubs with Brazilian singer Lisa Ono. He also toured extensively with Brazilian guitar virtuoso Nelson Veras, who made his debut with Jeff's group in 1992 at age 14!

Jeff Gardner is also active in jazz education. He is the author of "Jazz Piano: Creative Concepts and Techniques", a 500 page method including CD published by Editions Lemoine in English and French, and co-author with Niels Lan Doky of "Jazz Transcription" (Advance Music).