Cliff Korman
Cliff Korman - pianist, composer, and researcher.
He studied in New York, his hometown, with jazz masters Roland Hanna, Barry Harris, Ron Carter, Kenny Barron and David Liebman.
His artistic career includes performances with Toninho Horta, Milton Nascimento, Leny Andrade, Astrud Gilberto, Arthur Kampela and Henrique Cazes, as well as four-handed performances with pianists Wagner Tiso, Gilson Peranzzetta, and Cristovão Bastos. His recordings include Mood Ingênuo: Pixinguinha Meets Duke Ellington and Gafieira Dance Brasil with his partner of many years Paulo Moura; Migrations, inspired by Sebastião Salgado's photography; and Trains of Thought, a series of improvisations for solo piano.
The recording Migrations (Planet Arts Recordings 2005) was praised by Jazz Times and Cadence magazines, and by journalist Ben Ratliff in The New York Times.
His projects "Thelonious Monk for Kids", with saxophonist Nivaldo Ornelas, Beatles for Kids, with the Cliff Korman Ensemble, "The Jazz of Snoopy and Charlie Brown", The Gilson Perranzetta-Cliff Korman Duo and "Interventions", his composition for piano and symphonic jazz orchestra.
He holds a doctorate from Manhattan School of Music and a master's degree from City College of New York. At UNIRIO he teaches in the areas of Studies in Popular Music and Improvisation and coordinates the research group Improvisa and the project “Elaboration and Research of the Paulo Moura Archive”. Other research focuses include Brazilian Popular Piano: history and practice; Popular Music Pedagogy; and Global Circulations of Jazz. . He is currently coordinator of the Post-Graduate Program in Music at UNIRIO, and participates in the PPGM-UFMG. and PROEMUS (Professional Master's program) at UNIRIO
His instructional book “Inside the Brazilian Rhythm Section” created in collaboration with guitarist Nelson Faria was published by Sher Music (2001). His work as an academic in the areas of jazz and Brazilian music has received great recognition, which has included a research grant from Fulbright Commission in Brazil in 1999, the publication of an article on the music of Thelonious Monk in the Annual Review of Jazz Studies (2000), the presentation of his lecture “Jazz and Brazilian Instrumental Music: Common Roots, Divergent Paths” with the Research Round Table at Rutgers University (2000) and the presentation and publication of its article “Choro: Popular Brazilian Music Improvised Instrumental” as part of the 2003 International Association of Jazz Educators Convention (IAJE). His research on the Paulo Moura Archive, currently part of the research group Research in Musical Archives based in the State of Rio de Janeiro, generated the article “Paulo Moura's Hepteto e Quarteto: Sambajazz as Brazilogical popular improvised instrumental music ”in the collection Os Fins de Arte (2018).
