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Lafayette Gilchrist
Lafayette Gilchrist Plays The 'Blues For Freddie Gray'

Baltimore jazz pianist Lafayette Gilchrist's new album features a song dedicated to Freddie Gray. David I Muir/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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David I Muir/Courtesy of the artist

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Lafayette Gilchrist Plays The 'Blues For Freddie Gray'

The jazz pianist's latest album with his go-go backing band features a powerful song he wrote in tribute to the young Baltimore man who died in 2015 of injuries sustained in police custody.

Lafayette Gilchrist Plays The 'Blues For Freddie Gray'

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Lafayette Gilchrist: An Old Soul, At Ease In A Modern World

Lafayette Gilchrist. Leo H. Lubow hide caption

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Leo H. Lubow

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Music Reviews

Lafayette Gilchrist: An Old Soul, At Ease In A Modern World

Fresh Air

On Gilchrist's The View From Here, go-go dance beats inform his piano the same way freight-train boogie-woogie does.

Lafayette Gilchrist: An Old Soul, At Ease In A Modern World

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Music Articles

Not the Sound, But the Spirit of Jazz

The standard canon for up-and-coming jazz pianists has traditionally included the likes of Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock. But Lafayette Gilchrist did not start playing the piano until college after a childhood listening to much more funk, hip hop and go-go than jazz.

Lafayette Gilchrist in Studio on Weekend Edition

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Lafayette Gilchrist: '3'

Fresh Air

The new album 3 showcases Lafayette Gilchrist's maximalist jazz piano in a trio setting rather than with his seven-piece New Volcanoes band. Even in the more intimate arrangement, Gilchrist isn't afraid to make the box shout; this is jazz from artists influenced by everything from hip-hop to the D.C. area's distinctive go-go sound.

Lafayette Gilchrist: '3'

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