The legendary jazz pianist Harvey Diamond has graced the Boston area for decades with his music which is at once both deeply intricate and deeply emotional to even the most casual listener. Over the years he has performed across the U.S. and in Europe.
He was among Lennie Tristano's last students in the 1970's, and has done concert appearances with NEA Jazz Masters Sheila Jordan, Dave Liebman, and Art Farmer, and also with Charles Neville, Herb Pomeroy, Harvie S, John Abercrombie, George Mraz, Jay Clayton, Joe Hunt, Don Alias, Jason Palmer, Cameron Brown, Marc Johnson, Marcus McLaurine, and many others. After decades of patience by his fans, he has finally released some recordings, including The Harvey Diamond Trio with Marcus McLaurine and Satoshi Takeishi (2015), and Fair Weather with Cameron Brown (2018).
He has performed at New York's Mezzrow, Kitano, Apollo Theater, The Drawing Room, the Cornelia Street Cafe and The Stone; Minneapolis' Crooners Lounge; Boston's Regattabar, Scullers, Ryles, Mandorla Music Series, and Acton Jazz Café, the Vermont Jazz Center and many others venues. He has been a guest on WGBH Radio on Eric Jackson's Show Eric in the Evening and at the Lennie Tristano Symposium for two years, including this perfomance at the 2007 Lennie Tristano Symposium. He has performed at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, was the featured pianist at MIT's Herb Pomeroy First Memorial Concert, and at the New Hampshire Jazz Festival with Sheila Jordan.
Harvey has been on the faculty of the Vermont Jazz Center since 2003; has done workshops at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague; Boston University; University of Massachusetts, Lowell; and at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He is a revered private teacher, carrying the legacy of Lennie Tristano's teaching. He teaches piano of course, but also jazz and improvisation with other instruments and voice. He currently has openings. Please contact Jon Dreyer to find out how to reach Harvey directly if you are interested in studying.
Harvey has been described as "one of the unsung heroes of the Boston jazz scene since the mid-1960's," both as a performer and as a revered teacher. He plays with a rare combination of technique, intellect, subtlety and heart.
"Count veteran pianist Harvey Diamond among those much-appreciated but too-rarely recorded figures in jazz." — Elzy Kolb, Hot House Jazz
"Harvey is a master teacher and player who has positively influenced legions of musicians over the years ... a true master." —NEA jazz master Dave Liebman
"Harvey Diamond remains not only a master musical artist, but an insightful, intuitive and amazing teacher. I owe much to him for the profound difference he has made in my life by teaching me how to create and about the virtues of patience and sensitivity when teaching my own students on their musical paths
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"Count veteran pianist Harvey Diamond among those much-appreciated but too-rarely recorded figures in jazz." — Elzy Kolb, Hot House Jazz
"Harvey is a master teacher and player who has positively influenced legions of musicians over the years ... a true master." —NEA jazz master Dave Liebman
"Harvey Diamond remains not only a master musical artist, but an insightful, intuitive and amazing teacher. I owe much to him for the profound difference he has made in my life by teaching me how to create and about the virtues of patience and sensitivity when teaching my own students on their musical paths. His influence transcends through and beyond the music. Forever grateful." —Caris Visentin Liebman
"Harvey Diamond is a fantastic pianist. He plays from his heart and totally disappears into the song. He's a real joy to sing with." —NEA jazz master Sheila Jordan
"Harvey Diamond is a unique and brilliant musician: a pianist's pianist with a remarkable touch, unimpeachable technique and enormous dynamic range. A creative and unpredictable improvisor, Harvey's roots go back to Lennie Tristano and Bill Evans, spiced with just a touch of Cecil Taylor. He draws the audience into his world and holds it spellbound." —Cameron Brown
"Pianist Harvey Diamond is a national treasure to this great American art form known to many as jazz. When he plays I hear much more than that, I must say. I hear a light, buoyant artist who exudes joy in every phrase that he plays. I really get the feeling that he considers every note that he plays to be its own concert, that's how much love and care he puts into his work!" —Jason Palmer
"Pianist Harvey Diamond … is almost as revered among Boston musicians as the Dalai Lama is in Tibet." —Critic Steve Elman of The Arts Fuse
"Diamond is a musician's musician with a penchant for honing gems from the Great American Songbook into personal statements that leave us yearning for more. Diamond will take a familiar melody, distill it into a basic sketch and then expand upon the song's form by elaborating its harmony, melody and stylistic presentation. He does all this with a complete absence of pretension so that his interpretations are egoless reflections of where he is in the moment, presented through a lens of years of study and experience. Diamond is a master of both melody and harmony much like his predecessors in the legacy of jazz piano, Bill Evans and Lennie Tristano." —Eugene Uman, music director of the Vermont Jazz Center
"Harvey Diamond is a bona fide master of the piano who has yet to receive the recognition he truly deserves. This is due to Harvey's tranquil humility ... He is recognized by his peers as the musician's musician. Diamond's reharmonizations of jazz standards are moving targets of surprise and beauty. The rapture he creates in his performances is cause for inner transformation. Harvey Diamond was one of Lennie Tristano's last students and perpetuates the Tristano legend, teaching private students and coaching ensembles." —Soprano Monica Hatch at the 2007 Lennie Tristano Symposium
"Pianist Diamond, among the last students of jazz guru Lennie Tristano, plays with melodic invention, subtlety, and heart." Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe
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