I started playing piano when I was 4 because my older brother played and I wanted to do whatever he did. I won a bunch of classical competitions but didn’t really get into music until I joined my high school jazz band. More than the actual genre of jazz, it was the freedom of improvisation that I couldn’t get enough of.
I studied jazz and classical piano at Arizona State University and took a bunch of lessons with some amazing pianists like Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner and Uri Caine.
I worked as a full time gigging jazz musician for a long time but I don’t think I found my true calling until moving to Japan. A month after I moved here I lucked into my first job arranging 15 songs for a solo piano album. The CD sold really well and more arranging projects came my way. Over a few year period I came to realize that arranging, composing and teaching was my true calling so I quit plThanks for checking out my channel and feel free to visit my homepage for more information. www.jacobkoller.com