Meet Brandon Goldberg | Pianist and Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brandon Goldberg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brandon, how does your business help the community?
I hope my music brings people together and exposes audiences to songs and composers they may not be aware of, but who have a long, rich history and helped shape today’s modern, popular music.

I also believe music is universal and connects people from different backgrounds and nationalities, which is especially important in a diverse community like South Florida.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I compose music and play jazz piano. I’ve released two albums – “LET’S PLAY!” and “In Good Time”, both of which received four stars from Downbeat Magazine and were named among the top jazz albums of the year. I was very lucky to win the 2022 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award.

Here’s my story…When I was three, I started playing on the piano we had at home. When I was four years old, we discovered that I had perfect pitch, which pretty much means I can play anything that I hear. That was challenging at first because it was a lot easier for me to learn new music by ear instead of reading music, and that frustrated my teachers and my parents. I also had musical ideas of my own, so I didn’t always want to play exactly what was written.

But then, I discovered jazz. Jazz involves a lot of improvisation and gave me the freedom to express my own musical voice and try different things, while still honoring the composer.

Then, I really fell in love with jazz when I first heard the music of Frank Sinatra. I was about five or six years old and I immediately became obsessed with his music. I would watch all the old concert films and TV specials, which led me to discover Tony Bennett and jazz pianist Bill Evans.

Hearing Bill Evans changed everything for me, and I began to check out more and more jazz piano players, like Oscar Peterson (another very important early influence of mine), Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner and later Bud Powell, Red Garland, Sonny Clark, and Wynton Kelly, whom I consider to be my strongest influences in the way I currently play.

I have not always enjoyed learning and playing classical music. However, since I began studying with Giselle Brodsky about three years ago, I have really grown to appreciate the great classical composers and their music. I now understand how important classical music is to my pianistic development, and how influential it was to modern music as we know it today.

To me, Bach’s music is perfect. There is an inexplicable quality to it, it’s just perfect. It’s beautiful, it’s complex, it’s haunting, it’s confusing yet simultaneously so clear, crisp and precise. There is no other way to describe it.

I also compose a lot of my own music, which you can hear on both of my albums. When I’m not playing original music, I usually pull songs from the Great American Songbook, a term often used to describe the songs written by composers like Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Jimmy van Heusen, etc.

I usually play in a trio format consisting of piano, bass and drums and sometimes I add a saxophone and/or trumpet to the mix . I really love the on-stage collaboration and improvisation as we create music together in the moment. We never play anything the same way twice. The music is constantly evolving, and it’s one of the things I love most about jazz.

I really hope that I can expose a younger audience to jazz and get them interested in the music to ensure that it lives on. Jazz has taught me to collaborate, listen to others and work together on the bandstand. Sometimes I wish that how we conduct our selves in this setting would serve as an example to how we can lead our everyday lives’, listening, working, and collaborating to create something that bigger than ourselves.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, I love to eat good food and try new restaurants. Some of my favorite Miami restaurants are KYU, Carbone, Makoto for sushi and either Lucali or Steve’s for pizza (they’re very different styles of pizza so it depends what I’m in the mood for).

For live music, check out the North Beach Bandshell. I also like going Lagniappe House to hear a local band. Their outdoor patio has a really fun vibe.

The Adrienne Arsht center also has great programming year-round and I especially love their Jazz Roots series.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have a lot of shoutouts to give and am grateful to many people, especially my family, who have supported me in my journey so far.

First, I’d like to give a shoutout to the great musicians, whom I consider my musical heroes and who let me sit in on the bandstand and who have shared their knowledge with me. They include Monty Alexander, Benny Green, Donald Harrison, Ralph Peterson (who is on my second album), Ira Sullivan, Randy Brecker, Marcus Miller, Bill Charlap, Ben Wolfe, and Dan Miller, just to name a few. And… if you’ve never heard of these guys, look them up!

Another shout out goes to two great organizations – Jazz Foundation of America and the Litchfield Jazz Camp & Jazz Festival. They gave me important performance opportunities at a very young age and they also do great work in the jazz community.

I also want to give a shoutout to WDNA 88.9 Jazz Radio and Nicole Yearling for all the hard work they do for our local jazz community. And a shoutout to the Miami Symphony Orchestra (MISO) for naming me their youngest Composer in Residence and giving me the opportunity to compose two symphonies for them.

And, although I live in Miami, I spend a lot of time performing in New York, so a shoutout goes to Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center for giving me my first professional jazz gig in New York and for their continuing support.

Of course, I need to give a shoutout to my teachers whom I’ve worked with along the way…Mila Vasserstein, Marcus Gottschlich, Paul Posnak, Martin Bejerano and now Giselle Brodsky. Giselle Brodsky is a unique and incredible teacher and person. She’s actually more of a coach than a teacher and is able to bring out the best in her students. She also runs the Miami International Piano Festival and brings in amazing talent from all around the world.

Also, the whole jazz faculty team at UM has always been supportive, Shelly Berg, Chuck Bergeron, Martin Bejerano, and the great Ira Sullivan. I started going to their jazz camp when I was about 6 or seven years old and it was a great experience.

Finally, a big shoutout to my Manager, Ina Dittke, for working tirelessly and believing in me and Lydia Liebman Promotions for spreading the word.

Website: https://brandongoldbergpiano.com/

Instagram: @brandonpiano

Facebook: www.facebook.com/brandongoldbergpiano

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrandonGoldberg

Image Credits
Sally Prissert, W Studio Gary Alpert, Deafboy Photography Caramoor Jazz Festival