MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

George Caldwell, pianist/arranger/composer

            In a recent news article music critic Jeff Miers describes George Caldwell as “a fully tenured jazz piano legend … one of the pre-eminent players in modern jazz.” Hailing from Clarksdale, MS, Caldwell graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Some of the highlights of his richly varied musical career include: a stint with tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan; three years in the piano chair of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, ; seven years touring the globe with the world renowned Count Basie Orchestra, under the leadership of the great composer/tenor saxophonist Frank Foster, garnering a Grammy in 1996, with Caldwell in the piano chair for the cd ‘Live At The Manchester Craftsman’s Guild’; musical direction, playing and conducting on broadway (Black & Blue, Play On!, The Full Monty, etc.), National Tours (Sophisticated Ladies, Bring In ‘Da Noise, etc.), and in Europe (Body & Soul, Black & Blue); sharing the bandstand with, among many others, Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, Shirley Bassey, Clark Terry, Quincy Jones, Joe Williams, George Benson, Kenny Garrett, Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Lou Rawls, Lionel Hampton, George Coleman, Roy Hargrove, and Bobby McFerrin. Caldwell has performed worldwide in major jazz festivals (Newport, Paris, JVC, Nice, Berlin, Montreux, Chicago, etc.) and in the great concert halls (Carnegie Hall, The Royal Albert Hall, Salle Guarnier- Monte Carlo, KonzertHaus-Berlin, the Kennedy Center, etc.)) He enjoys playing with his own band, The George Caldwell Quintet.

“…the excellent pianist George Caldwell….”…no vocabulary to match Mr. Caldwell’s….”  – Brian Seibert, The New York Times 
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“It is our delightful good luck in this city …spectacularly genial mainstream bop piano master.” – Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News 

“Caldwell is a fully tenured jazz piano legend…He’s one of the pre-eminent swing jazz players in modern jazz” – Jeff Miers, The Buffalo News Music Critic 
  
“… a fabulous musician, quiet, humble, soft spoken, and deeply talented. There is no major musician on the American jazz scene who knows more about the technical and creative side of playing jazz.” – James McBride Musician & Writer, National Book Award recipient 2013