Music never goes silent in Geoffrey Keezer's world

Geoffry Keezer says all music, including jazz, should be allowed to evolve: "Jazz is a living expression of humanity of being alive in the present moment. It's not something that ended in 1959 with 'Kind of Blue.' This jazz thing is alive in 2012 and there's no reason it should sound the same way it did 50 years ago."

Geoffery Keezer knows that every now and then he needs to get his mind off of music, but it's always going on in his mind.

"To be able to live without music is a really interesting challenge for me," says Keezer in a call from his home in San Diego. "I literally can't shut it off. I kind of live in my head. I have a soundtrack going all the time, and when I go to bed the soundtrack's still going, and even my dreams have soundtracks. It's very difficult to shut the music off. It's like trying to shut off a leaky faucet."

If the music Keezer makes is any indication, "leaky faucet" probably isn't the best description of what's going on in his head.

Whether it's traditional jazz, electronic music or modern variations on world music, Keezer seems determined to find something beautiful.

"You come to one of my shows, you're going to have a good time. I want people to go away feeling exhilarated and joyous and entertained and enlightened to some extent. I don't want to sound too heavy, but I never want to have people pay money to see me suffer on stage — to watch me go through some kind of painful process. I don't think that's very fun for anyone. I smile when I play piano and it's a real smile, because I'm having the best time possible and I want the audience to feel that way, too."

Although his name may not be familiar with the general public, Keezer does have a respectable cadre of fans who are clued into his creations. He's been nominated for a Grammy twice (Best Latin Jazz Album for his disc "Aurea" in 2009 and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists for his work on Denise Donatelli's album "When Lights Are Low" in 2010). He's been praised by Time magazine and his peers.

Keezer was born and raised in Eau Claire, Wis., in 1970. He says he always knew he wanted to make music.

"I played piano and drums from age four, probably. I never really thought about doing anything else."

He recalls from the age of 5 or so cluing in to his father's record collection and listening to Oscar Brown Jr.'s album "Sin and Soul," Weather Report's "Black Market" and albums by pianist Chick Corea, along with music by Beethoven and Bach.

"That music really stitched itself into my DNA," says Keezer.

After attending the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he moved to New York at the age of 18. Pianist, composer and educator James Williams took Keezer under his wing.

"He ended up producing my first four albums and was very instrumental in me having a career. He introduced me to Art Blakey. That was my first big gig (as pianist with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers). He recommended me to Art Farmer, which was a gig I did for about five years. I have a career because of James, really."

Williams was part of a group of pianists who had grown up or studied in Memphis. In the early 1990s he performed with them as part of the Contemporary Piano Ensemble.

"I hung out with (Knoxville's) Donald Brown and James Williams and Mulgrew Miller and Harold Mabern, and these guys were all from Memphis, so there was a lot of press about 20 years ago that went around that said I was from Memphis," says Keezer. "I was a Memphian by association!"

Since that time, Keezer has continually expanded his style, exploring world music from Okinawa to Peru to Hawaii and performing with a wide variety of musicians.

"In the music business in today's climate, it's an important skill to be diverse," he says. "If you want to work it's a good idea to be able to play a lot of different kinds of music and to play them authentically. This is what I tell my students and when I go around the world doing master classes and workshops. It's great to focus on one thing and get really good at it, but at the same time keep your ears and your mind open to everything."

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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