George Colligan

George Colligan is not only one of the great jazz pianists of his generation, but he has earned an international reputation as a multi-instrumentalist( drums, trumpet, organ, keyboards), composer, accompanist, teacher, and bandleader. Winner of the 2015 DownBeat magazine Critics Poll (Keyboard), he has had a long association with living jazz legend Jack DeJohnette. With over 130 albums to date as an accompanist, Colligan has worked with a long list of jazz greats, including Buster Williams, Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, and many others. His forthcoming album, "More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine"(Whirlwind Records) is his 28th as a bandleader. Colligan, a New York resident for 15 years, now resides in Portland, Oregon where he is an Associate Professor at Portland State University.

"Mr. Colligan... favors an earthy, assertive style, putting him in a lineage that includes McCoy Tyner, John Hicks and Mulgrew Miller. But he has other affinities, as he shows in a pair of spontaneous inventions provoked by the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., which claimed the daughter of a friend and sometime band mate. ‘Thoughts of Ana’ is a softly chiming solo reflection, with a touch that brings Mr. Jarrett to mind; it leads into ‘Outrage,’ which borrows a page from the Cecil Taylor playbook."

Nate Chinen, New York Times review of " The Endless Mysteries"( Origin Records)

“George Colligan has been enjoying an increasingly visible profile and continually takes giant leaps forward.”

Travis Rogers, Jazztimes