By Mark Robinson
Aaron Diehl played light jazz piano at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg Friday evening, Feb. 12, along with drummer Peter Van Nostrand and bassist Yasushi Nakamura. Diehl has a national reputation as a jazz pianist. Before the performance, the three took a few minutes to talk about what they do.
Thirty years old, from Columbus, OH, Diehl credits his grandfather, Arther Baskerville, with being a large musical influence on his life. His grandfather was a jazz musician, playing the trombone and the piano. Diehl began playing piano at the age of seven, working with classical music.
Diehl has played some pipe organ and the violin in the past, but now sticks with piano. He moved to New York in 2003 to attend The Juilliard School of Music, graduating after four years. “I met Yasushi at Juilliard, we’ve been playing together for about thirteen years. Peter I met on the streets. We’ve played together for eight years.”
Diehl said he plays maybe one hundred performances each year. Van Nostrand clarifies, “We’ll go out of town for three weeks, then come homefor a month.” So the scheduling is not a consistent pattern. It’s play a lot, then rest a lot.”
It’s not always these three together. Diehl says, “I play a lot with a singer, her name is Cecile McLorinSalvant, I play quite a bit with her.” And of Van Nostrand and Nakamura, Diehl says, “These guys play with all kinds of musicians, they’re great musicians.”
Diehl’s music, with various artists accompanying him, can be heard by typing his name in to the YouTube website.
