Cyrus Chestnut: Solo piano with ‘The Nutman’

Pianist Cyrus Chestnut came onto the jazz scene slowly. From the mid-1980’s to mid-1990’s, he apprenticed as pianist for Jon Hendricks, Better Carter, Donald Harrison and Wynton Marsalis. Since then he has toured the world numerous times and recorded 15 albums as a leader.

In this performance/interview Cyrus talks about his gospel roots, his discovery of jazz and how he approaches interpreting other composers’ music.  He also gives us his solo piano versions of Tonk, Polka Dots and Moonbeams and a new, original composition called No Problem, which is also included on his latest CD, The Cyrus Chestnut Quartet.