bethany pickens trio
Saturday, September 23
TIME: 2:00-3:00pm
VENUE: dusable Black history museum and education center, 740 east 56th pl.
A black and white image of Bethany Pickens wearing a striped shirt.
bethany pickens
Bethany Pickens is an award-winning pianist, composer, and educator. Born in Chicago, she began her musical training under the watchful tutelage of her father, world-class jazz pianist Willie Pickens.
Since graduating from the American Conservatory of Music, she has had the opportunity to perform, record, and conduct clinics with such artists as Clark Terry, Louis Bellson, Willie Pickens, Susan Anton, and Grammy award winners Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Hargrove and Branford Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and Usher.
As an educator, Pickens has worked with the Ravinia Jazz Scholars Program and the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Jazz Links Program, and is in her 25th year working for the Chicago Public Schools, currently teaching piano at her alma mater, Kenwood Academy. She also sits on the Board of the Jazz institute of Chicago and the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club.
Her debut CD is available at www.bethanypickens.com and on iTunes. You can follow Bethany Pickens on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Pickens describes her musical outlook as “steeped in tradition, committed to creativity.”
The musicians:
Bethany Pickens - piano
Steve Bowman, Jr. - acoustic bass
Charles Heath - drum set