About Geoffrey Keezer
Geoffrey Keezer (born November 20, 1970) is an American jazz pianist. In 2023, he won the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy for Refuge Keezer was playing in jazz clubs as a teenager, playing piano for Art Blakey at age 18 and touring with Joshua Redman, Benny Golson and Ray Brown in his 20s. He has toured with David Sanborn, Chris Botti, Joe Locke and Christian McBride and worked with vocalist Denise Donatelli, receiving Grammy Award nominations, and releasing albums influenced by Hawaiian, Okinawan, and Afro-Peruvian folk traditions. His 2009 album Áurea was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album; in 2010 he was nominated for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for "Don't Explain" on Denise Donatelli's album When Lights Are Low. In 2013 Keezer released his first solo piano album in 13 years, Heart of the Piano (Motéma Music). == Early life == Born in Eau Claire, the son of Mary Ann Graham, a professional French Horn player, and Ronald Willard Keezer, a composer/percussionist and member of the music faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Geoff Keezer attended Putnam Heights Elementary School, South Junior High School, and Memorial High School, graduating in 1988. == Performing and recording == In 1989, after attending Berklee College of Music for one year, Keezer joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, becoming the last pianist to join the band. He composed and arranged original music for the group, with which he remained until Blakey's death in 1990. Keezer's debut album as a leader, Waiting in the Wings (Sunnyside) came out in 1989. === 1990s === Keezer joined the Art Farmer Quartet in 1990.
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