Laurence Hobgood — artist
Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, producer, educator, Yamaha® artist and Grammy® winner Laurence Hobgood has enjoyed a 30+year career. Highlights include: three consecutive Fellow- ships to the Aspen Music Festival (1990, '91, '92), being chosen as a 1995 Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts, a 2003 Deems Taylor Award given by ASCAP for the year’s outstanding music jour- nalism, multiple Grammy® nominations and a 2010 Grammy® Award. He's played at many of the world’s most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the White House, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Tanglewood, Hollywood Bowl, and the Sydney Opera House. For almost 20 years he served as pianist/arranger/collaborator/co-producer for singer Kurt Elling during which time he wrote virtually all of the material on Elling's first ten albums, all of which received Grammy® nominations. He’s recorded and/or performed with Larry Coryell, Lee Konitz, John Patitucci, Jon Hendricks, Regina Carter, Stefon Harris, Arturo Sandoval, Christian McBride, Ernie Watts, Clark Terry, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Bob Mintzer, Mark Murphy, Peter Erskine, Gary Burton and Eddie Daniels, among many others. His 2009 CD, “When The Heart Dances”, featured duets with iconic bassist Charlie Haden. His "Christmas" CD was chosen by both the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune as one of the best Holiday CDs of 2013. His ongoing recording/performance project, "Poemjazz", with 3-time U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, has garnered critical praise. His 2016 trio CD, "Honor Thy Fathers", features bassist John Patitucci and drummer Kendrick Scott. JazzTimes' Michael West praised the work, saying: "It’s easy to hear similarities between Laurence Hobgood’s piano and that of Brad Mehldau . . . The album is a sublime statement—perhaps the first of 2016." His most recent recording, “t e s s e t e r r a”, combines his love of jazz trio and writing for string quartet with uplifting arrangements of what he calls the "expanded songbook" -- repertoire rang- ing from Cole Porter to Crosby Stills & Nash, Paul McCartney to Hoagie Carmichael, Sting to Chopin. It was released in the Spring of 2019 on London based Ubuntu Records. In the Fall of 2019 Hobgood joined the faculty of the New School in Manhattan, where he teaches undergraduate jazz arranging and directs improvisation ensembles. He lives in New York City with his wife, actress/educator Ariane Malia Reinhart.