Jahari Stampley Family Trio

Jahari Stampley is an electrifying pianist who won the 2023 International Herbie Hancock Competition and was named ‘Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz’ by the Chicago Tribune. He has been drawing a lot of attention from the public at large, not only due to his immense talents but because his music is appealing to a wide range of listeners – not just jazz lovers. For example, he was honored by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and received a Luminarts fellowship for his outstanding compositions. Stampley also conducts very dynamic performances with his Grammy-nominated mother, D-Erania Stampley who plays multiple instruments with him. Herbie Hancock states, “I’ve never heard anybody play quite like that…I was thinking, ‘Maybe I should study with him.’”

Stampley has toured with Stanley Clarke and is featured on Derrick Hodge’s Color of Noise album, with performances at esteemed venues like Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall. Before winning the competition, he released his debut album Still Listening which rose to #1 on Apple iTunes in the first weeks of the album’s release. Still Listening blends Stampley’s broad influences – from the church to electronica to the avant garde.

Of Stampley’s talent, drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. shares, “Before crossing the quarter-century mark – when many musicians are walking across the stage with the ink still drying from the degrees and simply desiring to fit into an agreed upon narrative artistically – Stampley defies the jazz norms and musical expectations placed on his generation. He plays from the heart, and you can feel the intrinsic depth in the delivery of notes from everyone on the album.”

Jahari Stampley Website
(Ticket Includes 5% City of Santa Cruz Admission Tax)