Cyrus Chestnut

Born in 1963, Chestnut started his musical career at the age of three, playing piano at the Mount Calvary Star Baptist Church at the age of six in his hometown of Baltimore, MD. By age nine, he was studying classical music at the Peabody Preparatory Institute in Baltimore. In the fall of 1981, Cyrus began jazz education in Boston, MA at the Berklee College of Music. In 1985, he earned a degree in jazz composition and arranging. While at Berklee, Chestnut was awarded the Eubie Blake Fellowship, the Oscar Peterson, Quincy Jones and Count Basie awards for exceptional performance standards at the college. After Berklee, Cyrus began further honing his craft with some of the legendary and leading musicians in the business. Some of these great people include; Jon Hendricks, Michael Carvin, Donald Harrison, Terence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Joe Williams, Isaac Hayes, Kathleen Battle, Betty Carter and Dizzy Gillespie just to name a few.

There’s a Brighter Day Coming was his first self-released album, followed by The Nutman Speaks (1992), The Nutman Speaks Again (1992) and Another Direction (1993). The records received the prestigious Gold Disk award from Japan’s leading jazz publication, Swing Journal. In the summer of 1993, Chestnut signed with Atlantic Records, releasing the critically acclaimed Revelation (1994), followed by The Dark Before The Dawn (1995) Earth Stories (1996) Blessed Quietness (1996) and Cyrus Chestnut (which featured Anita Baker, James Carter, Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, Billy Higgins and Lewis Nash, 1998).

In 2000, Cyrus was given a great honor to pay tribute to his favorite cartoonist, Charles Schulz and first jazz influence, Vince Guaraldi in his interpretation of the classic Charlie Brown Christmas, which celebrated Mr. Schulz’s 50th year of writing the saga of Charlie Brown. Vanessa Williams, Brian McKnight, The Manhattan Transfer and the Boys Choir of Harl were a few of the participants on this star-studded record.

In 2001, he released Soul Food, featuring bassist Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, and special guest soloists including James Carter, Stefon Harris, Wycliffe Gordon, and Marcus Printup. In 2006, Chestnut made his Telarc debut with the release of Genuine Chestnut. The album is a carefully balanced mix of original material with some well known pop melodies from the past several decades. Chestnut has been featured on film playing a Count Basie inspired character in the Robert Altman film, Kansas City.

His leadership and prowess as a soloist has also led him to be a first call for the piano chair in many big bands including the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Star Big Band, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra. He has recorded with the people before mentioned and including Bette Midler, Freddy Cole and many others to numerous to name. Chestnut continually tours with his trio, playing live at jazz festivals around the world as well as clubs and concert