Jazz pianist/composer
Uri Caine brings an eclectic array of disciplines and influences to his music. His own Jewish heritage, his
classical and
jazz training, and his interest in electronics combine in ambitious hybrids that are often challenging but always inventive.
Caine grew up in an intellectual, open-minded family in Philadelphia. His father, a law professor at Temple University, and his mother, a poet and professor at Drexel, ensured the best musical education possible for their son, having him study with French expatriate pianist Bernard Peiffer.
Over their four years of study together, Peiffer taught
Caine not only piano technique but the possibilities of music.
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Jazz pianist/composer
Uri Caine brings an eclectic array of disciplines and influences to his music. His own Jewish heritage, his
classical and
jazz training, and his interest in electronics combine in ambitious hybrids that are often challenging but always inventive.
Caine grew up in an intellectual, open-minded family in Philadelphia.
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His father, a law professor at Temple University, and his mother, a poet and professor at Drexel, ensured the best musical education possible for their son, having him study with French expatriate pianist Bernard Peiffer.
Over their four years of study together, Peiffer taught
Caine not only piano technique but the possibilities of music. Each week,
Caine brought a new composition to his lesson; teacher and pupil then deconstructed and reformed its melody, harmonies, and structure into entirely different directions. Along with listening to
Herbie Hancock and
Oscar Peterson, this rigorous study with Peiffer introduced
Caine to
jazz theory.
Caine was already performing at
jazz clubs around Philadelphia with artists like Mickey Roker and Bootsie Barnes when he began studies with composer George Rochberg in Penn State's University Scholars Program. Choosing his own path of study,
Caine took classes in music, literature, and other interests for a diverse-but-grounded program.
This well-rounded approach to music culminated in the aptly named debut album Sphere Music, released in 1992.
Caine's spontaneity and technical prowess as a musician and composer combine on the album, making it a jazzy tour of moods and styles. Sphere Music also inaugurates
Caine's collaboration with clarinetist
Don Byron. Together, the two have played everything from
Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" to
klezmer music to modern
classical, with Byron's ensemble Semaphore.
Caine followed Sphere Music with 1996's Toys, 1997's Primal Light, and 1999's I Went Out This Morning Over the Countryside, all of which feature his signature blend of fluid, visionary postmodernism. The late '90s brought international attention to
Caine's projects reworking, reinterpreting, and reinventing the works of
classical composers for the Winter & Winter label. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
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