Jeff Gardner was born in New York and moved to Brasil in 2002. After classical piano lessons with Ruth Schontal and Ivan Tcherepnin he studied jazz piano with Jaki Byard, Charles Banacos, Don Friedman, and John Lewis, and harmony with Nadia Boulanger. He has performed with such musicians as Kenny Wheeler, Gary Peacock, Norma Winstone, Eddie Harris, Steve Lacy, Freddie Hubbard, Bob Sheppard, Rick Margitza, Nelson Veras, Dominique di Piazza, Paulo Moura, Lisa Ono, Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Victor Assis Brasil, Dori Caymmi, Karim Ziad, Sheila Jordan, Ron McClure, Drew Gress, Ndugu Chancler, Roberto Bonisolo, Dave Carpenter, Charlie Mariano, Guillermo Anderson, Julio Barreto Anthony Pinciotti, Gary Wang, Lukmil Perez, André Ceccarelli, Hein van de Geyn, Lars Daniellson, and the piano quartet with Jaki Byard, Martial Solal, and Paul Bley.
Jeff has played as a leader at major venues on five continents, including solo and trio concerts for German, French, Czech Republic, Slovak, and Polish national radio, and performances at Nice Jazz Festival, Drum Jazz Festival, Groningen Jazz Days, Jazz a la Defense, Festival de Saint Raphael, Martinique Jazz Festival, Prague Jazz Festival, Slovak Philharmonic, Blue Note Clubs in Osaka, Tokyo, and Fukuoka, Monterey Jazz Festival (Rio de Janeiro), Centre des Arts (Guadeloupe), Electric Eclectics (Canada), IRCAM (Paris), etc. as well as numerous solo and trio tours representing the U.S. State Department in Latin and Central America, Africa, and the Middle East.
Jeff's 17 CD's as a leader include ”Spirit Call” (solo), “Continuum”, with Eddie Gomez and Billy Hart, “Alchemy”, with Gary Peacock, “Second Home”, with Rick Margitza, “Sky Dance” (recorded in Rio de Janeiro) with Gilberto Gil, Carlos Malta, Nivaldo Ornellas, Mou Brasil, Artur Maia, etc. and “Noches Habaneras”, recorded in Havana, Cuba, with Anga, Maraca, Julio Barreto, Diego Valdez, and Felipe Cabrera. Jeff’s CD, “The Music of Chance” is a collection of music inspired by the writings of Paul Auster and features Rick Margitza, Ingrid Jensen, and Drew Gress. Other recent recordings include ”Street Angels”, also recorded in Rio with Marcos Suzano, Marcelo Martins, Alexandre Carvalho, Jorge Helder, etc., “Grace” with David Friesen, and “Abraços”, with Carlos Balla and Alberto Continentino. His CD's "Breath" and "Lovelight" (Terramar), feature Jeff's New York based trio with Drew Gress and Anthony Pinciotti. Jeff is a versatile musician, equally at home with jazz, new music (his duo with Andrew Schloss on radio drum), and Brazilian sounds. In 1999 Jeff wrote and performed his first piano concerto, "Voltas", in Sao Caetano do Sul (Brasil). Upcoming releases include "24 Jazz Preludes" for solo piano as well as a CD of Jeff's chorinhos - "Chorando Jazz", with cutting edge young Brazilian musicians Sergio Krakowski - pandeiro, Cleber Rangel “Carrapicho” - bandolim, and young phenom Pedrinho Franco - 7-string guitar. In 2011 Jeff released a duo CD of his original compositions and lyrics, "Home is a River", with the amazing Brazilian singer Jane Duboc. Jeff's latest CD, available only as a digital download, is "Look Inside", a collaboration with composer/sound designer Pierre Comblat, featuring all star guests such as Karim Ziad, Rick Margitza, Anga, Nelson Veras, Flaco Nunez (ex-Orishas), Fifi Chaieb, Carlos Balla, etc. The album is a musical journey with grooves from New Orleans, Africa, Brasil, and Cuba. The album also marks Jeff's debut as a rapper on the cut Jazz History Vol. 1!
Active in jazz education, Jeff has given workshops in many different countries and is the author of JAZZ PIANO: CREATIVE CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES, SENTIMENTO BRASILEIRO, JEFF GARDNER’S BLUES BOOK, EASY JAZZ PRELUDES, and SHAPES (all published by Editions H. Lemoine), 24 JAZZ PRELUDES (Terramar Music), and co-author with Niels Lan Doky of JAZZ TRANSCRIPTION (Advance Music). His new books include POPULAR MUSIC HARMONY VOL. 1 - CYCLES, POPULAR MUSIC HARMONY VOL. 2 - CADENCES AND HARMONIC SEQUENCES, HARMONIC CONCEPTS FOR BASS (WALKING BASS LINES FOR ALL INSTRUMENTS, and BLUES WORKSHOP (published in Brasil by Edições Irmãos Vitale). Jeff has published three new collections of solo piano music - RADAMESIANAS, CHILDREN'S SONGS, and SONGS OF INNOCENCE.

www.jeffgardner.com.br