Profile
Cyrus Chestnut
Born in 1963, Cyrus Chestnut started his musical career at the age of 3, playing piano at the Mount Calvary Star Baptist Church in his hometown of Baltimore. By age 9, he was studying classical music at the Peabody Preparatory Institute in Baltimore.
In the fall of 1981, Chestnut began jazz education in Boston at the Berklee College of Music. In 1985, he earned a degree in jazz composition and arrangement. While at Berklee, Chestnut was awarded the Eubie Blake Fellowship, and the Oscar Peterson, Quincy Jones and Count Basie awards for exceptional performance standards at the college. After Berklee, he further honed his craft as a sideman with some of the legendary and leading musicians in the business. Some of these great people were: Jon Hendricks, Michael Carvin, Donald Harrison, Terence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Joe Williams, Isaac Hayes, Kathleen Battle, Betty Carter and Dizzy Gillespie. His association with Betty Carter, which began in 1991, significantly affected his outlook and approach to music, confirming his already-iconoclastic instincts. Carter advised him to “take chances and “play things I’ve never heard,” Chestnut says.
As Chestnut was absorbing experiences as a sideman, he was also developing as a leader, recording and playing live around the world. There’s a Brighter Day Coming was his first self-released album followed by The Nutman Speaks (1992), The Nutman Speaks Again (1992) and Another Direction (1993). The records received the prestigious Gold Disk award from Japan’s leading jazz publication, Swing Journal.
In 2006, Chestnut made his Telarc debut with the release of Genuine Chestnut. The album is a carefully balanced mix of original material and well-known pop melodies from the past several decades, all driven by Chestnut’s eclectic yet unmistakable jazz sensibility.
