Dan Tepfer (born 1982 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France) is a French-American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and composer. He is best known for his 2011 album ''Goldberg Variations/Variations'' and his 2019 multimedia project ''Natural Machines''.

Biography

Dan Tepfer grew up in Paris, France in a musical and scientific family. He received a bachelor's degree in astrophysics from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and a master's degree in jazz piano performance from the New England Conservatory in Boston. He currently lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, where he works as a pianist and composer. He tours around the world, with frequent appearances in Europe in particular. Since 2009, he has released a series of critically acclaimed New York Times review of Goldberg Variations/Variations
/ref> recordings on

Sunnyside Records Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record company and label established by François Zalacain in 1982 initially to release an album by pianist Harold Danko. Albums by Kirk Lightsey and Lee Konitz soon followed beginning a sequence of release ...

and

Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simon ...

, working in trio, duo and solo formats. He is also known since 2007 as one of the most frequent collaborators of jazz icon Lee Konitz.

Awards and honors

* 2006: First Prize and Audience Prize,

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

Bösendorfer Solo Piano Competition * 2007: Winner of American Pianists Awards and Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz, American Pianists Association * 2011: CHOC '' Jazz Magazine'' (France) for "Goldberg Variations / Variations" * 2011 – 2013: Rising Star Pianist, ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' * 2012 – 2013: Rising Star Pianist, ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growt ...

'' * 2014: Charles Ives Fellowship,

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

* 2016: MacDowell Fellowship,

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowel ...

* 2017: CHOC '' Jazz Magazine'' (France) for "Eleven Cages" * 2018: Fondation BNP-Paribas 3-year artistic development award

Discography

* 2005: ''Before the Storm'', with Richie Barshay and Jorge Roeder (DIZ) * 2007: ''Oxygen'', with Richie Barshay and Jorge Roeder (DIZ) * 2009: ''Twelve Free Improvisations in Twelve Keys'' (DIZ) * 2009: ''Duos with Lee'', duo with Lee Konitz ( Sunnyside) * 2010: ''Five Pedals Deep'', with Thomas Morgan and Ted Poor ( Sunnyside) * 2011: ''Goldberg Variations/Variations'' ( Sunnyside) * 2013: ''Small Constructions'', with Ben Wendel ( Sunnyside) * 2014: First Meeting: Live in London, Volume 1 with Lee Konitz, Michael Janisch & Jeff Williams (

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a weather phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow (current) gradients. Whirlwinds occur all over the world and i ...

) * 2017: ''Eleven Cages'', with Thomas Morgan and

Nate Wood Nate Wood (born October 3, 1979) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. He has performed with Wayne Krantz, Kneebody, Tigran Hamasyan, Louis Cole, The Calling, and Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. Background Nate learned to p ...

( Sunnyside) * 2018: ''Decade'', duo with Lee Konitz ( Verve) * 2019: ''Natural Machines'', with real-time musical and visual algorithmic response ( Sunnyside) * 2023: ''Inventions / Reinventions'' ( torySound Records With Billy Hart * '' Sixty-Eight'' ( SteepleChase, 2011) Film Score * ''Movement+Location''

External links

Dan Tepfer Official Website

French documentary of Konitz and Tepfer European tour
NPR Tiny Desk Concert

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tepfer, Dan 1982 births
Living people Musicians from Paris New England Conservatory alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Sunnyside Records artists