Jeff Kazee is a longtime

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 ...

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

and Hammond B3 organist for the Rock/Soul band

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes are an American musical group from the Jersey Shore led by Southside Johnny. They have been recording albums since 1976 and are closely associated with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. They have recor ...

. He has also worked extensively with Bon Jovi and with Jon Bon Jovi in his solo career. Kazee hosts a concert series at

The Cutting Room The Cutting Room is a music venue in New York City that was open at 19 West 24th Street from late 1999 through January 2009 for music of all varieties and reopened at the beginning of 2013 in a new location at 44 East 32nd Street. It was co-owned ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

under the name of kazeedigs—featuring shows dedicated to the songs "in heavy rotation on Jeff Kazee's turntable, 8-track player, and iPod". The first two shows were titled Greats Of The 88's and Soulsville, NYC: Stax Rides The Subway. The shows featured such NYC-based artists as: John Conte, Rich Pagano,

G.E. Smith George Edward Smith ('' né'' Haddad; born January 27, 1952) is an American guitarist. Smith was the lead guitarist for the duo Hall & Oates during the band's heyday from 1979 to 1985, playing on five number one singles. After Hall & Oates went ...

Southside Johnny John Lyon (born December 4, 1948), better known by his stage name Southside Johnny, is an American singer-songwriter who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Southside Johnny has long been considered the Grandfather of ...

, Craig Dreyer, Neal Pawley, Jack Morer,

Shawn Pelton Shawn Pelton is an American drummer and percussionist. He has recorded with a wide range of artists and has been a first call player since moving to New York in the late 1980s. Shawn has recorded with artists such as Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin, ...

, Jeffrey Lee Campbell, Tony Tino,

Chris Anderson Chris Anderson may refer to: Sports * Chris Anderson (baseball) (born 1992), American baseball player * Chris Anderson (cheese roller), 22-time winner of annual cheese rolling * Chris Anderson (footballer, born 1925) (1925–1986), Scottish footb ...

, Art Hays, Christine Ohlman, and Billy Joel saxman

Mark Rivera Mark Rivera (born May 24, 1953) is an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director and corporate entertainment provider who is mostly known for his work with Billy Joel. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor and b ...

. Kazee released the album ''No River'' in 1998.

Family

Kazee was raised in Lima, Ohio, and is married with two daughters, Vassileia and Sophia. He resides in New York City, NY.

Collaborations

A few of the many artists that Kazee has worked with include: Southside Johnny, Bon Jovi, Chocolate Genius,

Dar Williams Dorothy Snowden "Dar" Williams (born April 19, 1967) is an American pop folk singer-songwriter from Mount Kisco, New York. Hendrik Hertzberg of ''The New Yorker'' has described Williams as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters." She is ...

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respecti ...

, G.E. Smith, Gavin DeGraw. He occasionally filled in for bandleader

Paul Shaffer Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both ''Late Ni ...

on the '' Late Show with David Letterman''. Kazee's presence as a keyboardist/vocalist/arranger has been seen and heard in "house bands" for many special events, backing such stars as

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

, The Band's Levon Helm, Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer and Snoop Dogg, among others. He has performed on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

'', ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

'', ''

Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', b ...

'', VH1, ''

Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles ...

'', ''

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...

'', ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show to ...

'', ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

'' and many other talk/music shows, award shows and specials. In 2008-09, Kazee wrote and produced the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the Garden Of Dreams Foundation ( Madison Square Garden's charitable arm). Kazee shared the lead vocals with Robert Randolph on the original composition ''Give Some More'', which is featured every night at each New York Knicks, Rangers and Lady Liberty home games at The Garden in New York City. In 2009, Jeff joined Fab Faux drummer Rich Pagano and Asbury Juke bassist John Conte in an ongoing side project performing music selected from Elton John's Trio Years ('70-'72), entitled Early Elton. In 2010, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes released ''Pills and Ammo'' with most of the songs co-written by John Lyon and Jeff Kazee. In 2010, Kazee, under the name of Kazeedigs, performed two shows celebrating the re-issue of the Rolling Stones' ''

Exile on Main Street ''Exile on Main St.'' is the 10th British and 12th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. Recording began in 1969 in England during sessions for '' Sticky Fingers'' ...

.'' The first performance was held at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey (Exile on Ocean Avenue) and again in New York City at The Canal Room (Exile on Canal Street) Among others joining Kazee onstage was Southside Johnny. In February 2013, with (Southside) John Lyon, Kazee wrote and produced the debut album of Southside Johnny and The Poor Fools, ''Songs From The Barn''. In 2015, he again cowrote and produced another album ''Soultime!'', with John Lyon, this time under the name of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

Bon Jovi

Kazee toured with Bon Jovi in 2003 during ''

This Left Feels Right Live ''This Left Feels Right Live'' is the third of Bon Jovi's live concert videos. Filmed at Atlantic City, New Jersey, this features the band's performance at the Borgata on November 14 and 15, 2003. The DVD was directed by Tony Bongiovi (Anthony Mi ...

'' session and the

Have a Nice Day Tour The Have a Nice Day Tour was a worldwide concert tour by American rock band Bon Jovi. It took place between November 2005 and July 2006. The tour supported their ninth studio album '' Have a Nice Day''. The tour was a significant commercial suc ...

from 2005 until 2006. In July 2010, Kazee and other members of the Asbury Jukes joined Bon Jovi onstage at

Blossom Music Center Blossom Music Center, locally referred to simply as Blossom, is an outdoor amphitheatre in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, United States. The venue is the summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra and site of the ensemble’s annual Blossom Festival. Blossom M ...

(Cleveland) for a performance of the song "

Treat Her Right Treat Her Right was an American rock group, formed in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in 1985. The band originally featured Mark Sandman on "low guitar," Billy Conway on cocktail drum, David Champagne on guitar, and Jim Fitting on harm ...

." Kazee filled in for

David Bryan David Bryan Rashbaum (born February 7, 1962) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the keyboard player for the rock band Bon Jovi, with which he also co-wrote songs and performed backing vocals. In 2018, Bryan was inducted int ...

on keyboards and vocals for night five of Bon Jovi's 2010 London O2 Arena residency as Bryan was attending The

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

in NYC.

References

External links

Jeff Kazee Music
on Myspace
Kazee Digs
on Myspace
Jeff Kazee Interview by Klaus Boettger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazee, Jeff American male singers Singers from New York City Singers from New Jersey Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes members Jersey Shore musicians Living people 1967 births People from Lima, Ohio American rock pianists American male pianists American male organists American rock keyboardists 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century organists American organists