New Album: “TO THE SURFACE”

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BIO

“I love playing music with Lawrence Fields! He’s full of ideas, plays with a beautiful sound and feeling and can swing! He’s always inspired – and that’s where the magic is...” — Joe Lovano

Lawrence Fields, born and bred in St. Louis, has earned a spot at the forefront of young jazz pianists, thanks to his blending of vintage ideals with a contemporary mindset. For the last six years, in 2024-2019, Downbeat Magazine has placed him close to the top of the keyboardist category in their “Rising Stars” critics poll. Fields showcases his own dynamic blend of composition and playing in his trio and quartet, and his band and music are featured internationally. His debut album featuring his trio and solo playing, “To the Surface”, was released in February 2024 to critical acclaim.

Veteran saxophone icon Joe Lovano – with his unerring ear for youthful talent – has become one of the pianist’s biggest fans. Fields is a member of several bands led or co-led by Lovano: his Classic Quartet (originally featuring Lewis Nash and George Mraz in the rhythm section); the Sax Supreme Quartet (with Chris Potter); and his Sound Prints quintet with trumpeter Dave Douglas. The Wall Street Journal praised Fields’ “elegant, probing” solos with Sound Prints, while The New York Times noted that he is “integral to the band’s plunging, changeable style.” A modern-minded bandleader from the younger generation also relies on Fields, as he mans the piano and keyboards for the Christian Scott Group. Referencing his role on acoustic and electric pianos in the trumpeter’s band, NextBop said: “Fields remains a constant lyrical presence on the keys – innovative, expressive, supportive, able to soar like a bird in his solos. He never fails to impress.”

Fields has collaborated with Christian Scott on several albums — including co-writing and co-producing 3 songs on the Grammy-nominated The Emancipation Procrastination (Ropeadope, 2017), as part of his work on Christian’s Centennial Trilogy with releases Diaspora and Ruler Rebel. He features prominently in the piano and keyboard chairs on Christian’s Grammy-nominated live recording Axiom (2020), as well as the Grammy-nominated Ancestral Recall (2019), and the Stretch Music (Ropeadope, 2015) and Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah (Concord, 2012) albums.

With Lovano and Douglas, the pianist features on Sound Prints’ two critically-acclaimed studio releases: Other Worlds (2021), and Scandal (2018, Greanleaf) — selected by The Guardian as their #1 jazz album of 2018, as well as one of Rolling Stone’s top 20 jazz albums of the year. Fields also plays on the live album Sound Prints: Live at Monterey Jazz Festival (Blue Note, 2015), which featured two brand-new compositions written for the ensemble by the legendary Wayne Shorter. He appears on the album Marsalis Music Honors Alvin Batiste (2007) alongside Branford Marsalis, Herlin Riley and Russell Malone, as well as on drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s More to Say (a 2009 disc for which he served as a pianist, keyboardist, and composer-producer). Fields also appears on releases by drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, and saxophonists Jaleel Shaw and Steve Slagle. The pianist has been a member of the Watts band, as well as that of trumpeter Nicholas Payton. In addition to performing onstage with the likes of Payton, Watts, Marsalis and Carrington, Fields has appeared with star bassist Christian McBride, drummer Nate Smith, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, and bassist Robert Hurst, among others.

Lawrence's playing is also featured on Christopher North's score for the Sam Pollard documentary "Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes", which premiered in 2023 on PBS' American Masters television series.

Lawrence spoke with Fast Company Magazine for their “Creative Conversation” series about the process of improvisation.

PHOTOS

PRESS

Read: Bandcamp featured and reviewed “To the Surface” on their list of The Best Jazz on Bandcamp, February 2024

Read: The St. Louis American profiled and interviewed Lawrence: Native Jazz Son Keeps Coming Home

Read: The Washington Post interviewed Christian Scott, Lawrence, and Elena Pinderhughes about the Grammy-nominated “Axiom”: Christian Scott … Album Could Win Him a Grammy

Listen: Fast Company Magazine interviewed Lawrence for their Creative Conversation series, speaking about the thought process and considerations behind improvisation: This Is Your Brain on Improvisation (Fast Company)

Read: The Boston Globe spoke with trumpeter Christian Scott and Lawrence about their experience recording the Grammy-nominated “Axiom” live at New York’s storied Blue Note jazz club: Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah Captures the Moment…

QUOTES

"Fields’ piano playing defies gravity like a dancer caught mid-air in freeze-frame"

—John Shand, The Sydney Morning Herald

"Pianist Lawrence Fields balances tradition and invention with an equally strong voice. While right-hand lines sparkled with modernist intent, left-hand counterpoint strode purposefully to the bass, creating tension, climax and intrigue.”

—Mike Hobart, Financial Times

“Fields' fingers gliding over the keys with seemingly no effort, he's a brilliant improviser and can swing too.”

—Tim Dickeson, Jazzwise Magazine

“… the pianist Lawrence Fields shimmers like sunlight on the ocean.”

— Chris Pearson, The Times

"… Lawrence Fields — from St. Louis, the band’s only non-Baltimorean — put swing and soul in everything, in and out of solos;"

— Ben Ratliff, New York Times

".. Fields' music is an exquisite balance of tradition and innovation."

—Takehiko Tokiwa, Jazz Life Magzine

Read: Rising Jazz Pianist Reunites With His Berklee Family

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Contact: Sarah Williams

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