Introduction
Zach Lapidus (born around 1987) is an American jazz pianist and keyboardist of modern jazz.
Life and work
Zach Lapidus was born around 1987 in Portland, Oregon, into a musical family; his father played banjo and guitar.
He got an early start in music and began taking piano lessons when he was eight. Later, he also learned to play the violin.
After graduating from the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics in Vancouver, Washington, he attended Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he studied music with Luke Gillespie, David Baker, John Gibson and Jeffrey Hass.
He then received a scholarship to study at Ravinia Steans Music Institute for Young Artists (Highland Park, Illinois), where he studied with Rufus Reid and James Moody.
Career
After completing his education, Lapidus lived in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he worked as a performer, recording artist, teacher, and studio musician, from 2008 to 2014.
In 2015, he was one of the finalists of the Jazz Fellowship Awards, organized by the American Pianists Association. (He was a finalist in the same competition in 2011).
Lapidus accompanied Dee Dee Bridgewater in the NPR-Radio broadcast JazzSet, as well as at Voice of America and WBGO. He also worked with Wycliffe Gordon, Claudio Roditi, Frank Glover, Corey Christiansen, Bobby Watson, Derrick Gardner, Jon Irabagon, Ralph Bowen, Shannon Forsell, and Billy Drummond.
Among his musical influences, Lapidus cites Thelonious Monk, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, Abdullah Ibrahim, Miles Davis, and Ornette Coleman.
Between 2009 and 2015, he was involved in five jazz recording sessions.
In 2020, he co-produced Jeremy Siskind's album Perpetual Motion Etudes For Piano (Outside In Music Records).
Lapidus currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, where he currently (2019) works in the orchestras of trombonist Robert Edwards and bassist Peter Brendler (alongside tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, alto saxophonist Billy Drewes, and drummer Paul Wells).