“a well-kept secret favorite among piano enthusiasts.”
Peter Madsen was born in Racine, Wisconsin where he began his classical piano studies at the age of eight. At thirteen he became interested in jazz and started to play professionally three years later. In 1978 he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a degree in Music Education, after which he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to concentrate on developing his jazz piano skills through intensive practice and a bursting schedule of gigs, composing and teaching.
In 1980 Peter moved to New York City. He got one of his many breaks when Stan Getz hired him to tour Europe and the U.S. in 1987. Since then Madsen has played with an array of great jazz musicians, performing extensively in Europe and Japan and recording with Benny Golson, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and many others. Peter has written over 350 compositions of which more than 100 have been recorded.
Peter has performed on almost 100 albums to date, 14 of which he was a leader either solo, duo, or with his own group. Since 1999 Peter has been writing articles for his own monthly column entitled “Wide Open Jazz and Beyond” for allaboutjazz.com. He lives part-time in New York and part-time in Bregenz, Austria and continues to perform worldwide as well as teaching master classes, workshops and private students and has been a teaching artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2004.
The Peter Madsen Trio is Peter Madsen on piano, Andy McKee on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums.
