Pianist Jeremy Siskind is the rare musician whose imaginative albums land on “best of” lists while his ground-breaking instructional books populate “best-seller” lists. A “genuine visionary” (Indianapolis Star) who “seems to defy all boundaries” (JazzInk), Siskind’s multifaceted career includes writing arrangements for influential classical musicians, teaching jazz on prominent digital platforms, performing at renowned concert halls and jazz clubs, and running a publishing company that sells thousands of books each year.

First and foremost, Siskind is an accomplished jazz pianist and composer. A top finisher in national and international jazz piano competitions, Siskind is a two-time laureate of the American Pianists Association and the winner of the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition. As the leader of “The Housewarming Project,” Siskind not only created “a shining example of chamber jazz” (Downbeat) that received Chamber Music America’s $30,000 New Jazz Works grant, but he reimagined the concert experience by creating more than 150 in-home concerts in more than 25 states. The Housewarming Project’s albums, including 2022’s two-CD set Songs of Rebirth have been named among the “Best of the Year” by Downbeat magazine, The Ottawa Citizen, and Jazz History Online, among others. Siskind’s arrangements for frequent collaborators soprano Julia Bullock and pianist Lara Downes have been praised by NPR and the New York Times, who named his re-writing of “One by One” for Bullock as one of the “Best Classical Music Tracks of 2022.” Siskind has also written arrangements for Miami’s New World Symphony (for soprano Louise Toppin) and Cleveland’s “No Exit New Music (for soprano Lauren Pearl).

A sought-after educator, Siskind has published more than 20 instructional books, including Playing Solo Jazz Piano, with an introduction by Fred Hersch, and the ground-breaking Jazz Piano Fundamentals series. Besides Siskind’s own YouTube channel, which boasts over 9,000 subscribers, Siskind is frequently seen teaching on digital platforms like Tonebase, Open Studio, and Piano with Jonny, as well as presenting webinars and in-person lectures for the Frances Clark Institute, the Music Teachers National Association, and the Imagine Solutions Conference. Siskind has been a featured guest for the state conferences of music teachers associations in New York, Florida, Arizona, and California, at the University of Georgia Piano Pedagogy Symposium, the University of Alabama Keyboard Festival, and the Louisiana International Piano Series, and others. As the chair of the National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy’s “Creativity Track,” Siskind helps to guide education and pedagogy surrounding improvisation and composition. Siskind spreads peace through music in places like Lebanon, Tunisia, and Thailand with the non-profit organization, Jazz Education Abroad.

Siskind has had the opportunity to perform with musical luminaries like revered trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (at Disney Hall in Los Angeles), drummer Matt Wilson and bassist Jay Anderson (in a trio setting at Mezzrow jazz club in New York), Grammy-winning classical pianist Angelin Chang (who duetted with Siskind on his Perpetual Motion Etudes at Carnegie Hall), legendary vocalist Kurt Elling (who recorded on Siskind’s album Housewarming), and drummer Ted Poor (who plays on Siskind’s album Simple Songs (for When the World Seems Strange) and has served as musical director for comedians Lea DeLaria (Orange is the New Black) and Sandra Bernhard (The King of Comedy). A student of Scott McBride Smith, Tony Caramia, Harold Danko, Sophia Rosoff, and Fred Hersch, Siskind holds degrees in both Jazz Performance and Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music as well as a Masters in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He is a tenured professor at Southern California’s Fullerton College and a proud Yamaha Artist.

Beth's Tuesdays is a monthly singer-songwriter's showcase hosted by Beth Fitchet Wood...

Grace Freeman with Doug Miller and Kevin Kelso

May 7th - Grace Freeman with Doug Miller and Kevin Kelso