# Jason Lindner

Jason Lindner (born February 1, 1973) is an American pianist, keyboardist, synthesist, sound designer, composer, arranger and producer.

## Life and career

Lindner was brought up in Brooklyn, New York City. His father played the piano and sang, and Jason began playing the piano at the age of 2. As a child, he liked heavy metal, then bebop and blues as a teenager. He attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
Lindner "made his mark during the 1990s", in part as leader of a big band that played at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City. He was also the club's house pianist around the time it opened in 1994. This band recorded the album Premonition in 1998 and it was released in 2000, by which time Lindner had changed to leading a quintet. He performed and arranged for vocalist Claudia Acuña's first album, Wind from the South.
By 2004, Lindner was leading an electric group that consisted of Jacques Schwarz-Bart (sax), Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Reggie Washington (bass), and Gene Jackson (drums). His Now Vs. Now band began in 2006 as a quintet, with Cohen, Baba (beatbox, rap), Panagiotis Andreou (bass), and Mark Guiliana (drums). Lindner commented that "I wasn't playing jazz quartet gigs anymore. I was playing in a place where we could really experiment sonically, using electric bass, the drummer playing more groove-oriented beats and less straight ahead swing. [...] I wanted to appeal to ordinary people and not just a jazz audience." In the first three months of 2015 he participated in recordings sessions for David Bowie's Blackstar. For this recording, he used nine keyboards and a grand piano. Lindner reported that his subsequent production work was influenced by the presence of Tony Visconti for the Bowie sessions.

## Compositions

A 2004 observer commented that Lindner's compositions are often "buoyant, singable melodies enlivened by circular, interlocking rhythms that often coalesce, swell and burst into euphoric exclamations [...with] a mesmerizing, transportive vibe that seamlessly reconciles elements of Afro-Cuban, modern and modal jazz with R&B, hip-hop and house music." Between the release of Now Vs. Now's first and second albums, Lindner's compositions became influenced more by electronica.

## Awards

In 2009, Lindner's band was the winner of the Big Band Rising Star category in Down Beat magazine's critics' poll. Lindner was Down Beat's critics' poll winner of the Keyboard Rising Star category in 2013. In 2015, his band again won the Big Band Rising Star category in the Down Beat critics' poll.

## Discography

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.

### As leader/co-leader

| Year recorded | Title | Label | Personnel/Notes |
| 1998 | Premonition | Stretch | Big band, with Omer Avital (bass), Dwayne Burno (bass), Avishai Cohen (bass), Daniel Freedman (drums), Jeff Ballard (drums), Kahlil Kwame Bell (percussion), David Pleasant (percussion), Myron Walden (alto saxophone), Jimmy Greene (tenor saxophone, flute), Gregory Tardy (tenor saxophone), Charles Owens (tenor saxophone), David Schumacher (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet), Avi Lebovich (trombone), Joe Fiedler (trombone), Alex Norris (trumpet), Diego Urcola (trumpet), Benu Meratae (rap vocals) |
| 2001 | Live/UK | Sunnyside | Quartet, with Jimmy Greene (tenor sax, flute) Omer Avital (bass), Marlon Browden (drums); recorded live for BBC Radio3 in London |
| 2001 | 1, 2, 3, Etc. | Fresh Sound New Talent | Trio, with co-leaders Giulia Valle (bass), Marc Ayza (drums) |
| 2004 | Ab Aeterno | Fresh Sound New Talent | Trio, with Omer Avital (bass), Luisito Quintero (percussion) |
| 2007 | Live at the Jazz Gallery | Anzic | With big band; recorded live at the Jazz Gallery in New York City |
| 2009 | Now Vs Now | Anzic | Trio, with Panagiotis Andreou (bass, vocals), Mark Guiliana (drums); added on some tracks are Baba Israel (rap vocals, spoken word), Anat Cohen (tenor sax), Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Kurt Rosenwinkel (guitar), Me'Shell Ndegéocello (bass guitar, vocals), Pedrito Martinez (vocals, percussion), Yosvany Terry (percussion), Claudia Acuña (vocals) |
| 2013 | Earth Analog | Now Vs Now | As Now Vs Now (trio), with Panagiotis Andreou (bass), Mark Guiliana (drums) |
| 2018 | The Buffering Cocoon | Jazzland | As Now Vs Now (trio) with Panagiotis Andreou (bass), Justin Tyson (drums); with guests Sasha Masakowski (vocals), Natasha Diggs (guided meditation) |

### As sideman

| Year recorded | Leader | Title | Label |
| 1997 | Various | Live at Smalls | Impulse! |
| 1997 | Avishai Cohen | Adama | Stretch |
| 1999 | Avishai Cohen | Devotion | Concord |
| 2000 | Avishai Cohen | Colors | Concord |
| 2007 | Anat Cohen | Poetica | Anzic |
| 2007 | Omer Avital | Free Forever | Smalls |
| 2008* | Anat Cohen | Notes from the Village | Anzic |
| 2009 | Claudia Acuña | En Este Momento | Marsalis Music |
| 2011 | Omer Avital | Omer Avital Quintet | SmallsLive |
| 2012 | Donny McCaslin | Casting for Gravity | Greenleaf |
| 2012 | Dafnis Prieto | Proverb Trio | Dafnison Music |
| 2013 | Mark Guiliana | Fast Future | Rockwood Music Hall Productions |
| 2015 | Donny McCaslin | Fast Future | Greenleaf |
| 2016* | David Bowie | Blackstar | RCA |
| 2016 | Donny McCaslin | Beyond Now | Motema |
| 2018 | Justin Brown | Nyeusi | Biophilia Records |
| 2018 | Donny McCaslin | Blow. | Motema |