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Glenn Zaleski

Glenn Zaleski is one of the most in-demand pianists on the New York City jazz scene. Originally from Boylston, MA, Glenn has made a name for himself playing with the likes of Ravi Coltrane, Lage Lund, and Ari Hoenig. His debut album, My Ideal, was released in March of 2015 on Sunnyside, and has been receiving critical acclaim: Downbeat Magazine named it “sublime”, Jazz Times called it, “an engaging set by a talent worth watching,” and the New York Times named the record a “strong statement”, praising its “fluent but unhurried sense of phrase”.

Glenn has also released two popular albums with the collective Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato: Limitless (Capri 2013), and Anticipation (Capri 2011), as well as a duo record with his brother, saxophonist Mark Zaleski. (Duet Suite, 2010)

In 2011, Glenn was a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, as well as a finalist for the 2011 APA Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz. He attended the Brubeck Institute Fellowship program in Stockton, CA from 2005-2007, and then finished his undergraduate studies at The New School in 2009. From 2009-2011, while working towards his graduate degree at NYU, Glenn was also on NYU faculty, teaching a variety of classes and private students.

Awards

2007: APA Cole Porter Fellowship - Finalist
2011: APA Cole Porter Fellowship - Finalist
2011: Thelonious Monk Competition - Semi-Finalist

Alex LoRe & Weirdear: Evening Will Find Itself

Read "Evening Will Find Itself" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo

by Maurizio Zerbo
March 14, 2024

Attraverso questo CD, gli appassionati italiani di jazz potranno conoscere e apprezzare Alex LoRe, uno dei più talentuosi sassofonisti emergenti dell'area newyorkese. Ispirato ai grandi modelli della grande tradizione jazzistica degli anni Sessanta, Evening Will Find Itself propone una musica ben costruita, interpretata col giusto pathos. Armonicamente e ritmicamente complesse, le dieci tracce del CD ed in particolare l'evocativo “Face Unseen" attualizzano la sontuosa lezione shorteriana, facendo leva sulle fantasiose doti improvvisative del quartetto. Oltre al ...

Album Review

Mareike Wiening: Reveal

by Mark Sullivan
January 12, 2024

Mareike Wiening is a German drummer/composer who began her career in New York, and now divides her time between there and Köln, Germany. On her third album, she continues making music with her New York-based working band, an increasingly rare situation in contemporary jazz. It provides her an opportunity for more compositional experimentation with each release. “Time for Priorities" begins abstractly, a duet between drums and guitarist Alex Goodman's spacey electronics, before introducing the swinging theme and the rest of ...

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Glenn Zaleski: Summer Song

by Geno Thackara
June 5, 2023

Glenn Zaleski's playing style is a little swing, a little more contemplation, and a lot of jny:New York City class. Those key elements are all there in this tricky-flowing turn on a Dave Brubeck classic--not really the tune for a sunny-day barbecue, as one might almost guess from the title, but rather one for winding down after sunset sipping a chilled beverage and watching the fireflies. ...

Album Review

Gabriel Vicéns: The Way We Are Created

Read "The Way We Are Created" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
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Puerto Rican jazz guitarist & composer Gabriel Vicéns has been living in New York City since 2016 but, for this album, he chose to explore traditional Puerto Rican music (Bomba and Plena—music and dance styles born from African slavery and Caribbean influences) blended with his own compositional style. He was also exposed to Cuban Changüí, and began incorporating some stylistic devices from it into his guitar playing. The title tune begins the program with an infectious ostinato pattern ...

Album Review

Mareike Wiening: Future Memories

Read "Future Memories" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
October 19, 2021

It is interesting that in today's creative music world, a jazz drummer cannot just be a jazz drummer. There are so many great drummers that they have to also be composers, band leaders, and sometimes van drivers. A short list includes Tyshawn Sorey, Allison Miller, Ches Smith, and Terri Lyne Carrington. Add to that list Mareike Wiening, the German-born artist with (now) deep New York roots. Her release Metropolis Paradise (Greenleaf Music, 2019) brought her music critical attention and acclaim, ...

Album Review

Roberto Pianca Sub Rosa: Mono No Aware

Read "Mono No Aware" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
May 15, 2021

The Roberto Pianca-led ensemble Sub Rosa's second release is a concentrated exercise in inter-communicative restraint, subtlety and woven odd meters that provokes the mind while consoling the soul. It's a cool affair that profits from the individual talents' accurate performances and inquisitive spirits as much as the leader's proficiently crafted compositions. Where the predecessor, self-titled Sub Rosa (Wide Ear Records, 2013) was a rather rigorously tempered and vigorously executed display of broad technical virtuosity, Mono No Aware scales things back ...

Album Review

Tomoko Omura: Branches Vol. 1

Read "Branches Vol. 1" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
January 7, 2021

Violinists come in many shapes, colors and sizes. In jazz, there are those who bridge the gap between classical music and a more improvised repertoire seamlessly, as seen with pioneers such as American avant-gardist Mark Feldman. There are others who go about their craft with a more rootsy approach to the improvised music tradition—as heard with virtuosos like Regina Carter. And then of course there's everything in between, from old guard veterans like Stephane Grappelli (also known as ...

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