The Story

“For over 20 years, pianist Aaron Goldberg has set himself apart as one of the most scintillating performers in jazz,” hails JazzTimes. Goldberg is widely heralded as one of the art form’s most compelling pianists, both leading his own trio and collaborating with such brilliant icons as Joshua Redman, Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Guillermo Klein and many more. Simultaneously swinging and embracing risk, his stylistically fluid, singular voice reveals that jazz is a tradition of innovation.  

Goldberg became a jazz devotee in high school as a student at Milton Academy in Boston. He was introduced to the African-American art form by bassist and master educator Bob Sinicrope, and at age 16 began study with saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi.  As Aaron puts it, “At first improvisation was a mystery and a puzzle, but soon it became a profound inner and outer journey as life and music entwined.”  After receiving awards from Berklee College of Music and Downbeat Magazine, he moved to New York City at 17 to attend The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.  Devoting himself entirely to music for the first time, he won the NFAA Recognition and Talent Search and IAJE Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship, attending classes by day and performing in NYC clubs by night, inspired by NYC’s myriad living masters.    

Aaron promptly moved back to New York after college, continuing his ascent in bands led by a cross-generational array of icons including Al Foster, Freddie Hubbard, Nicholas Payton, Stefon Harris, Tom Harrell, and Gregory Tardy among others.  In late 1997 he formed his first trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland, a widely acclaimed empathic unit that would perform and record consistently for the next two decades and leave their mark upon a generation of musicians. 

The Sound

Every January, the Cape May Jazz Festival Foundation journeys as a group to the Jazz Plaza Festival held in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. In 2024, we took in performances by Aaron Goldberg with a Havana based rhythm section of Oliver Valdes and Jorge Reyes and decided to invite and sponsor the Aaron Goldberg Havana Trio.