The Trio will be performing original compositions by Kirkwood and Marshall, as well as jazz standards and classics by Monk and Ellington. Neal Kirkwood, originally from the Bay Area, has been living in New York City since 1981, where he has been active as a performer, composer and band leader. He and bassist Jeff Carney, also living in New York City, have an association dating back to their high school days in Santa Rosa, California. Eddie Marshall is acknowledged as a leading figure in the evolution of San Francisco’s contemporary jazz sound. They bring their collective experience and enthusiasm to what promises to be an afternoon of swinging and adventurous piano trio jazz.
 
 
Neal Kirkwood Trio
 
Neal Kirkwood, Piano
 
Neal Kirkwood is a composer, pianist, arranger and bandleader living in New York City. His ensembles include the Neal Kirkwood Octet, and the Chromatic Persuaders, a quartet featuring violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Lindsey Horner, and drummer Tom Rainey. He recently debuted a new trio with Allison Miller on drums and Lindsey Horner on bass.

As a composer, Neal Kirkwood has received has received numerous commissions, including a 2007 New York State Music Fund commission for “Village Songs,” a song cycle for children’s chorus and a ten-piece jazz ensemble, with a text drawn from the writings of 4th grade students in New York public schools. In 2000 he received a New York State Council for the Arts commission for “The Future of Futurism,” a five movement work for jazz orchestra. Other commissions include “Voices” for children’s chorus, 2008, for the Children’s Aid Society chorus, and “The Mirrored Self” and “The Enchanted Realm” for the Belgian ensemble Octurn. His composition for jazz orchestra “Goldberg’s Variations” was winner of the Jazz Composer’s Alliance Competition in 1996. He has composed music for symphony orchestra, jazz orchestra, chamber ensembles, and voice. He holds a master’s degree in composition from Mannes College of Music, where he studied with Charles Jones.

In addition to his activities as a bandleader and composer, Kirkwood has performed and recorded with Pony Poindexter, Bobby Previte, Lindsey Horner, Mark Feldman, Mike Clark, among others, and has toured with vocalists Michel Hermon, Chris Connor, Abby Lincoln and Bobby McFerrin.
  
 
Eddie Marshall, drums
 
Coming from a family of musicians in Springfield Massachusetts, Eddie Marshall is acknowledged as a leading figure in the evolution of San Francisco's contemporary jazz sound. For over fifty years he has played drums with nearly every major name in jazz, from Freddie Hubbard, Jon Hendricks and Dexter Gordon to Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Eddie Harris. A consummate sideman, Marshall was the designated house drummer at San Francisco's famed nightclub, Keystone Korner during the 1970s. His most long-standing musical associations have been with Toshiko Akiyoshi, with whom he has played since 1958, the late Stan Getz, Bobby Hutcherson and Bobby McFerrin. He co-founded with Mike Nock the seminal jazz fusion group, The Fourth Way. Since 1989 Marshall has also been performing on the alto and soprano recorders, working within a large variety of ensemble arrangements on a baroque instrument rarely heard in jazz.
While playing with many of the greatest jazz musicians of his day, Eddie Marshall has also distinguished himself as a composer. With two albums of original music to his name, his work is appreciated for both its driving intensity and joyous, melodic lyricism. Chamber Music America with support from the Doris Duke Foundation awarded Marshall two grants through their New Works and New Works Encore Program, commissioning him to compose an original piece. "Dreams That Dance- A Suite", performed by Marshall's Holy MischiefEnsemble, premiered at the San Francisco Jazz Festival in November 2004. 


Jeff Carney, Bass
 
One of the most in-demand bassists in New York City, Jeff Carney's resume reads like a “who's who” of the world's elite artists. As an accompanist, Carney has been heard alongside jazz greats Stan Getz, Art Farmer, Bobby McFerrin and Freddie Hubbard and pop icons such as Sting, James Taylor, Billy Joel and Elton John. He has performed with Barbra Streisand on her last three tours and her recent performance at The Village Vanguard.
 
Jeff is principal bassist for the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, has appeared as a featured bassist with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony, numerous chamber music concerts and music festivals worldwide. As a studio player, he can be heard on many jingles and film soundtracks, including featured bassist for the recent motion picture Julie & Julia. Jeff is a professor of double bass and electric bass at the New School’s Jazz and Contemporary Music Program.