and here's the obligatory bio: Jesse Chandler was born in Boston November 20, 1978. He grew up in Woodstock, NY and began private studies in clarinet at the age of 7, classical piano at 10, violin at 13, and music composition/theory at 16. He also participated in the New York All-State Orchestra, Symphonic Band and Jazz Band while in highschool, and worked as an organist for a church from age 15 to 18. At 15 years old he started getting interested in jazz, and at 18 moved to New York City, where he attended the New School for Social Research/ Mannes College of Music, and earned a BFA in Jazz Performance for Organ and Piano. He has performed professionally in New York and all over Europe and America and recorded albums with many different musicians and bands, including Norah Jones, Jimmy Cobb, David “Fathead” Newman, and Turkish virtuoso Omer Faruk Tekbilek.
On January 1st, 2003 Jesse moved to Lisbon, Portugal and began playing extensively throughout Europe at concert halls, jazz festivals and clubs, as well as TV and radio shows. He returned briefly to New York to record his debut album for Fresh Sound Records’ ( www.freshsoundrecords.com), released in 2004 and entitled “Somewhere:Between.” The album consists wholly of original compositions, and has garnered many excellent reviews, including one in the acclaimed jazz magazine/website All About Jazz (www.allaboutjazz.com), and ended up in critics’ end-of-year top albums lists for several jazz publications such as JazzTimes Magazine. Also in 2004, one of Jesse’s compositions was chosen to be featured on a sampler CD for Fresh Sound Records, the record label which has for the past ten years been crucial in documenting the modern New York jazz scene. In the summer of 2006 he was commissioned to write a suite of music for a dance piece. The piece was performed for children by a member of the prestigious Gulbenkian dance company in Lisbon. He also recorded the piece at his home studio. He has taught several master classes at prestigious universities in Portugal and Spain, and has had private piano students of all ages for many years. On December 31st, 2006 Jesse moved back to Woodstock to start fresh in a new (old) place. He thoroughly enjoys playing, recording, teaching and composing all kinds of music, especially Jazz, Classical, Rock and Brazilian music. He has been touring the u.s. and Europe and recording a lot recently with Robert Gomez, including a recent tour in France playing festivals with Sonic Youth and the Smashing Pumpkins.
