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Dan Tepfer

One of his generation’s extraordinary talents, Dan Tepfer has earned an international reputation as a pianist-composer of wide-ranging innovation, individuality, and drive—one “who refuses to set himself limits” (France’s Télérama). The New York City-based Tepfer, born in 1982 in Paris to American parents, has recorded and performed around the world with some of the leading lights in jazz and classical music, from Lee Konitz to Renée Fleming, and released eleven albums of his own in solo, duo and trio formats.

Tepfer earned global acclaim for his 2011 release Goldberg Variations / Variations, a disc that sees him performing J.S. Bach’s masterpiece as well as improvising upon it—to “elegant, thoughtful and thrilling” effect (New York magazine). Tepfer’s 2019 video album Natural Machines stands as one of his most ingeniously forward-minded yet, finding him exploring in real time the intersection between science and art, coding and improvisation, digital algorithms and the rhythms of the heart. The New York Times has called him “a deeply rational improviser drawn to the unknown.” His 2023 return to Bach, Inventions / Reinventions, an exploration of the narrative processes behind Bach’s beloved Inventions, became a best-seller, spending two weeks in the #1 spot on the Billboard Classical Charts.

During the Covid pandemic, his belief that music brings people together in times of crisis led him to dive headlong into live-streaming, performing close to two hundred online concerts from his home for a devoted community of listeners. As part of this effort, he pioneered ultra-low-latency audio technology enabling him to perform live through the internet with musicians in separate locations, culminating in the development of his own app, FarPlay.

Tepfer has composed for various ensembles beyond jazz. His piano quintet Solar Spiral was premiered in 2016 at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, with Tepfer performing alongside the Avalon String Quartet. Tepfer has received commissions from the Prague Castle Guard Orchestra for two works: the suite Algorithmic Transform(2015) and a concerto for symphonic wind band and improvising piano, The View from Orohena (2010). In summer 2019, Tepfer unveiled his jazz-trio arrangement of Stravinsky’s Baroque-channeling Pulcinella. In 2024-2025, he’ll premiere three new major commissions: a suite for choir and piano in memory of his mother, a chorister at the Paris Opera; a song cycle for jazz great Cécile McLorin Salvant and string orchestra; and a symphonic work featuring algorithms and visuals.

Tepfer’s honors include first prizes at the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition, the 2006 East Coast Jazz Festival Competition, and the 2007 American Pianists Association Jazz Piano Competition, as well as fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2014), the MacDowell Colony (2016), and the Fondation BNP-Paribas (2018, 2021 & 2024).

Awards

Gear

Dan Tepfer is a Yamaha Artist. He plays the Yamaha DCFX Disklavier concert piano.

Dan Tepfer & Kirk Knuffke: Generous Versatility

by Ludovico Granvassu
August 23, 2019

Dan Tepfer and Kirk Knuffke are two musicians that, despite being being only in their thirties, have already become reference players on their respective instruments. Known for their versatility, which allows them to be equally at home with the repertoires of Johann Sebastian Bach or Erik Satie as well as with all-out improvisation, they have a capacity to make their collaborators shine. This mixtape features some highlights from their already extensive discography as leaders or sidemen. Happy ...

My Favourite Things

Dan Tepfer

by Paolo Peviani
July 20, 2017

Il tratto principale della mia musica Sempre alla ricerca. La qualità che desidero nei musicisti che suonano con me L'ascolto. Come musicista, il momento in cui sono stato più felice Quando mi posso sedere tranquillo e sentire il suono allo stato puro. Come musicista, il mio principale difetto Voglio sempre lasciare la mia zona di conforto. La mia più grande paura quando suono

Multiple Reviews

Dan Tepfer Trio: Eleven Cages; Judy Niemack with Dan Tepfer: Listening to You

by Angelo Leonardi
July 17, 2017

Dan Tepfer s'è messo in luce da un decennio con eccellenti lavori da leader (dai trii jazz all'esecuzione delle Goldberg Variations) e con prestigiose collaborazioni: ricordiamo il duo con Lee Konitz, il sestetto con Billy Hart, il trio con quest'ultimo e Gary Peacock. In queste due ultime incisioni il pianista trentacinquenne evidenzia l'alto livello di maturità raggiunta, confermandosi tra i migliori solisti della sua generazione grazie a una tecnica prodigiosa e uno stile superbo, tanto ricercato quanto avventuroso dal ...

Album Review

Dan Tepfer Trio: Eleven Cages

Read "Eleven Cages" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 27, 2017

Pianist Dan Tepfer makes an excellent point here, reminding us that the concept of freedom is actually built on architectural stability. With Eleven Cages Tepfer has his Thomas Merton moment, likening the framework of each song to the walls of his newfound freedom. He recognizes and emphasizes the fact that different structures are housings for exploration and creation, not handcuffs on the imagination or rigid dictates in design methodology. Tepfer's well-formed views on the permanence and plasticity ...

Album Review

Joanna Wallfisch: Gardens In My Mind

Read "Gardens In My Mind" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
October 18, 2016

In questo terzo disco da leader la cantante inglese conferma a grandi linee quanto espresso nel precedente The Origin of Adjustable Things (Sunnyside, 2012). Dal punto di vista espressivo si colloca decisamente nella tradizione delle cantautrici americane d'impronta folk; accanto a lei ritroviamo il pianista Dan Tepfer e il repertorio ripropone vari brani già incisi nel disco precedente ("Song to a Siren" di Tim Buckley, “Satellite," “Anonymous Journey," “Satin Grey" e “Rational Thought"). Le novità vengono dalla presenza del quartetto ...

Album Review

Joanna Wallfisch with Dan Tepfer: The Origin of Adjustable Things

Read "The Origin of Adjustable Things" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
November 18, 2015

Dopo il debutto del 2012 con Wild Swan, la cantante inglese Joanna Wallfisch si unisce al pianista Dan Tepfer per offrire nuovi e ricercati orizzonti espressivi. Influenzata da Norma Winstone e Joni Mitchell, la Wallfisch fa venire in mente le collaborazioni della Winstone con Jimmy Rowles o Fred Hersch. La sua cifra espressiva è autonoma ma anche nel suo caso è un'alta raffinatezza a caratterizzare i percorsi musicali. Il limpido canto colloquiale disegna melodie folk con suadente romanticismo ...

Live Review

44 Voll-Damm Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona: Lucian Ban, Dan Tepfer y Enrico Pieranunzi

by Pep Salazar
December 10, 2012

Lucian Ban Enesco Re-ImagineAuditori de Barcelona (sala 3)13 de noviembre de 2012Barcelona ha vivido un noviembre en estado de gracia. El 44 Voll-Damm Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona, además de sus múltiples actividades y ofertas de todo tipo, ofreció, con el patrocinio especial de la inquieta Fundación de Música Ferrer-Salat, un ambicioso ciclo lleno de grandísimas sorpresas llamado Clàssics, que proponía la revisión de la música clásica y contemporánea en clave de jazz (incluyendo entre los ...

Video / DVD

Lee Konitz With Dan Tepfer "Talking & Playing” Instructional Video Released By JazzHeaven.com

Source: Falk Willis
April 13, 2015

Lee Konitz is the preeminent cool jazz saxophonist, having performed and recorded with Claude Thornhill, Lennie Tristano and with Miles Davis on his epochal Birth of the Cool, and he counts easily as one of the most distinctive voices on alto saxophone. Konitz recorded dozens of albums as a leader and recorded or performed with Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones & Jim Hall. In this video, part documentary, part musical master class, Konitz, in an ...
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Radio

The Jazz Session #222: Dan Tepfer

Source: AAJ Staff
December 7, 2010

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Recording

Pianist/Composer Dan Tepfer Releases Trio Album "Five Pedals Deep" on Sunnyside Records - October 26, 2010

Source: Fully Altered Media
October 19, 2010

Album features Dan Tepfer (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Ted Poor (drums) CD RELEASE PERFORMANCE @ Jazz Standard October 26, 2010 (7:30 & 9:30pm) In his forthcoming trio release, Five Pedals Deep on Sunnyside Records, wildly inventive pianist Dan Tepfer plumbs the depths of conventional harmony, engaging pop modalities, minimalism, and jazz tradition with the audacity and irreverence of a deep-sea explorer. The 28-year-old, Brooklyn-based pianist has forged a richly layered collection of lyrical, ...
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Festival

Dan Tepfer, Cole Porter Fellow 2009, Added to IndyJazzFest

Source: Lampkin Publicity Service
September 13, 2009

The Indy Jazz Festival, presented by Marsh, in Indianapolis announces that current Cole Porter Fellow, Dan Tepfer, has been added to the lineup of this prestigious festival presented yearly. Dan will appear in the opening music spot all week. This year the festival, which runs 9/19 - 9/27, presents legendary musicians such as The Joshua Redman Trio, Randy Brecker, Kurt Elling, Nicholas Payton, Poncho Sanchez, Marcus Miller, Rufus Reid and a host of others, placing Dan in great company. Currently ...
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152

Performance / Tour

Montreux Jazz Winner/Cole Porter Fellow, Dan Tepfer, Tours Midwest and Toronto 9/09

Source: Lampkin Publicity Service
September 10, 2009

Critically acclaimed pianist/composer, Dan Tepfer, will return to the Midwest for a tour of Chicago, South Bend, Toronto and Ann Arbor, Michigan. After stops in Poland, New York, Greece and France earlier this spring/summer, Dan is touring this current work, “The Goldberg Project" , which is a celebration of the J.S. Bach “Variations on Goldberg" mixed with jazz improvisation styling's from Dan himself. Described as a “remarkable musician" by the Washington Post and praised for his “brilliant career “ by ...
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190

Performance / Tour

Montreux Jazz Winner/Cole Porter Fellow, Dan Tepfer in "Variations on Goldberg"

Source: Lampkin Publicity Service
July 22, 2009

Lampkin Music Group is proud to present “Dan Tepfer in 'Variations on Goldberg" A Solo Piano Concert Sunday, September 13th at 7:00 p.m. Palais Royale at the Morric Performing Arts Center South Bend, Indiana 105 West Colfax Street Tickets are $25.00 Montreux Jazz/Cole Porter Competition Winner, Dan Tepfer, an acclaimed French/American classical/jazz pianist, who was recently praised for his “brilliant career" in the New York Times, has been ...
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128

Performance / Tour

Dan Tepfer Tours in Support of Latest CD "Oxygen"

Source: Lampkin Publicity Service
September 27, 2008

OXYGEN Midwest CD release tour!

Chicago Andy's Jazz Club 11 East Hubbard Street 312-642-6805 Thursday, October 2nd, 9:00 p.m. Cover Charge - $10.00 -------------------------- Trio's Restaurant and Jazz Club Tuesday, September 30th at 8:00 p.m. 129 N. Michigan Street 574-288-8746 Cover Charge - $10.00

Indianapolis Jazz Kitchen 5377 North College Ave.
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Combines superb technique with a complex set of impulses: he's a deeply rational improviser drawn to the unknown.

—New York Times

One of the moment's most adventurous and relevant musicians.

—New York Magazine

Ravishing... Dan Tepfer is a pianist of extraordinary technique and fearless harmonic sensibility.

—JazzTimes

A pianist of exceptional poise who is drawn to the deeper currents of melody.

—New York Times