PETER LERNER

Peter Lerner was born and raised in the multi-cultural, diverse Hyde Park area of Chicago. This is an area rich in musical history: Ahmad Jamal lived across the street and the AACM were only a few blocks away. His earliest musical influence was his mother, Ruth, who played and sang folk songs for the civil rights movement. By the age of eight, he had composed his first song, and his musical journey began. Lerner credits Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana for inspiring him early on. In high school, Lerner fell in love with jazz after hearing Stanley Turrentine’s “Sugar” on which guitarist George Benson played. Since then, Lerner began listening heavily to and learning from the great jazz masters and has continued to study jazz, composition and improvisation. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Chicago’s American Conservatory of Music, and has been working as a professional musician, read more...