Bryan Nichols

Bryan Nichols is a Minneapolis-based pianist and composer, working primarily in jazz and instrumental music. He returned to the Twin Cities in 2005 after four busy years in Chicago where he played with jazz heavyweights like Corey Wilkes, Nicole Mitchell, Ernest Dawkins, Von Freeman and Hamid Drake. Since returning to Minneapolis, he leads and composes for his own trio, his quartet/quintet and his large group, We Are Many. An in-demand freelancer, he also plays regularly with Gang Font, Kelly Rossum Quartet, James Buckley Trio, Zacc Harris Quartet and Lambeau Magic. He teaches jazz piano at MacPhail Center for Music and University of Wisconsin �" Eau Claire. Bryan was recently award a 2010 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, a prestigious and competitive award for Minnesota musicians. He was also awarded a 2004 residency by Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program, at the Kennedy Center, given to outstanding, emerging jazz performer/composers. His work as a composer also earned him a subito grant from the American Composers Forum. He has performed at most music venues in the Twin Cities and Chicago, in addition to international festivals including Sons d’Hiver (Paris, France) and Kerava Jazz Festival (Kerava, Finland) as well as local and regional festivals including the Chicago Jazz Festival and the Minnesota Sur Seine Festival. Bryan appears on recent recordings by James Buckley, Gang Font, Chris Morrissey, Gordon Johnson, Kelly Rossum, Todd Clouser, Gayngs, Minor Kingdom and many more. Bryan released his debut recording as a leader, Bright Places, on May 24, 2011.

Zacc Harris Group: Small Wonders

Read "Small Wonders" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
October 10, 2021

Accompanied by the hugely conversant John Raymond on trumpet and flugelhorn, saxophonist Brandon Wozniak, Expressionism-steeped pianist Bryan Nichols and the fluid viscosity of rhythm brothers bassist Chris Bates and drummer JT Bates, Zacc Harris—whose tonal voyage could be immediately likened to that of John Scofield (if only Harris didn't harken and manage all his influences so damn well)—creates on Small Wonders a very lucid, warm and easy vibe one cannot help being explicably drawn to. It is a vibe many ...

Album Review

Zacc Harris Group: Small Wonders

Read "Small Wonders" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 16, 2021

There is a theme of currents to the music of Small Wonders, although it is not stated in the titles. Minneapolis guitarist Zacc Harris pours the music from this album into your ears, metaphorically speaking. At times it is a cascade, in other places just a trickle. Either way, listeners are encouraged to float along, and going with the flow is a natural reaction to this music. Small Wonders is the second release by the Zacc Harris Group, following The ...

Album Review

Bryan Nichols: Looking North

Read "Looking North" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
January 10, 2017

Il giovane pianista di Minneapolis Bryan Nichols inanella in questo lavoro solitario dieci brani per lo più di sua composizione (fanno eccezione “Lonesome Tremolo Blues" e “Lullaby for Sharks") affidandosi a un periodare corretto quanto scarsamente inventivo, sostanzialmente incapace di dire una qualche parola in grado di attrarre l'ascoltatore al di là di una gradevolezza di fondo, peraltro neanche troppo accentuata, il che, in sé, non è certo un difetto (semmai il contrario). Le progressioni pianistiche di ...

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Performance / Tour

Bryan Nichols Inhabits "Bright Places"

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
May 12, 2011

Bryan Nichols brings a lot to the Twin Cities jazz scene, as a pianist, a composer and an educator. What the world may have lost in a potential genetics researcher (his undergraduate major at Iowa State) has been easily compensated in our gain of artistic vision. A Twin Cities native, Bryan spent a few years honing his piano chops in Chicago where his cohorts defined that modern scene—Corey Wilkes, Nicole Mitchell, Ari Brown, Hamid Drake, Von Freeman. Next came a ...
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