Earthwise welcomes Carmen Staaf Jorge Roeder Duo

Pianist/composer Carmen Staaf is a rising force in the NYC and global music scenes. She has performed and recorded with some of the most influential and important musicians of our era. Currently, she is the pianist and Musical Director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater. Her past major performances have included the Playboy Jazz Festival in a two-piano setting with the legendary Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and the Kennedy Center alongside Kenny Barron and Fred Hersch. She has been heard at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, SFJazz and major jazz festivals around the world including the Newport, Monterey, Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals, among many others. carmenstaaf.com.

Originally from Seattle, Staaf has become a fixture in the New York City and, through her connections with Allison Miller, Todd Sickafoose, and Jenny Scheinman and teaching at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Staaf became engrained in the deep Bay Area jazz scene.

Bassist Jorge Roeder is originally from Lima, Peru and is now based in New York City. The biography on his website really encapsulates his work: “Combining a symphonic imagination with the intimate lyricism of a folk musician, the aggressive energy of a raw rocker with the buoyant rhythmic sensibilities of his Afro-Peruvian roots, Roeder conveys a wide spectrum of influences within a resolute foundation.”