#60: David Rodgers

Published: May 20, 2020, 6 a.m.

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California native David Rodgers is one of the most exciting young talents in Nashville\\u2019s jazz scene today. Currently an active member of Keb\\u2019 Mo\\u2019s band as keyboardist and musical director, he has also toured or performed with musicians including Taj Mahal, Kirk Whalum, and Jeff Coffin worldwide at the Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Playboy Jazz Festival, among many others. David is a graduate of Vanderbilt University\\u2019s Blair School of Music (2017) where he pursued both classical and jazz piano performance, and also has a master\\u2019s degree in commercial composition and arranging from Belmont University (2019).

Combining his classical training with deep improvisational roots in both jazz and blues, he has won the 2018 Belmont University Concerto Competition, in which he won with his very own composition, \\u201cConcerto For Jazz Piano & Orchestra,\\u201d the 2016 Vanderbilt University\\u2019s Concerto Competition, as well as the 2016 James Miltenberger International Jazz Piano Competition.\\xa0

His compositions have been performed and recorded internationally, including guest appearances at the 2018 Jazz Education Network\\u2019s Young Composers Showcase where the U.S. Airmen of Note played his winning big band composition, as well as in Canada where he was invited as a guest artist to the Banff Centre\\u2019s International Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music. In addition to being an active Korg-endorsed artist, he was also a finalist for ROLI\\u2019s first-ever International Next Awards for which he was invited to London to perform as a soloist.\\xa0

He has released two genre-bending albums: Songs For A Generation (2017) and Doorways (2019).

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