For those not in the know, Dr. Gianni Bianchini is a jazz pianist, vocalist, organist, and educator whose work is grounded in the relationship between melody, lyric, swing, and ensemble interaction. A native of Palm Beach, Florida, he studied at Berklee College of Music, New York University, and the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

As a performer and bandleader, Bianchini has remained closely engaged with the Great American Songbook and the piano-vocal tradition. His approach brings singing and playing into a single musical identity, with the piano serving not simply as accompaniment but as an equal voice in shaping phrasing, time, and emotional direction.

Bianchini has released three albums as a leader, appeared on numerous recordings as a sideman, and performed throughout North and South America. His collaborators have included Jason Marsalis, Arturo Sandoval, and Duffy Jackson. Across these settings, he has developed an approach centered on attentive listening, clear communication, and the shared movement of an ensemble.

His work as an educator has developed alongside his performing career. He has taught at New York University and the University of Texas at Austin and spent nearly a decade as Director of Piano at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, a Berklee Global Partner institution. He currently serves as Head of Jazz Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University while continuing to perform and record.

On A Study in Songbook, Dr. Gianni Bianchini brings his piano and vocal identities together in an intimate trio setting with bassist Ross Kratter and drummer Sam Hart. Across nine familiar songs drawn from the broader jazz repertoire, the ensemble keeps melody and lyric at the center while allowing swing, phrasing, and responsive interplay to give each performance its own shape.

The result is a personal engagement with repertoire that has remained central to Bianchini’s musical life, allowing familiar songs to reveal new dimensions through phrasing, interaction, and attentive interpretation.

1. East of the Sun [3:17]
2. I Wish You Love [5:03]
3. Give Me the Simple Life [2:33]
4. I Thought About You [3:47]
5. Dindi [5:47]
6. After You’ve Gone [3:27]
7. Sweet Lorraine [4:27]
8. I Remember You [2:42]
9. That’s All [5:46]

On an album where an easy sense of motion quickly establishes the trio’s shared time and the close relationship between Bianchini’s singing and piano playing, they open on the buoyantly joyful East of the Sun and then we get the soulfully emotive I Wish You Love, the low slung finger snapping melodic delights of Give Me the Simple Life and then we get gifted the rhythmically ambient I Thought About You.

Along next is the softly comforting Dindi which is in turn backed seamlessly by the decadently sculpted After You’ve Gone, the late night, underground jazz club feel to the affecting Sweet Lorraine, the set rounding out on the peppy I Remember You, coming to a close on the deeply impassioned beauty of That’s All.

Whether teaching, performing, or recording, Bianchini approaches jazz as an active tradition shaped through close attention to repertoire and responsive collaboration. That perspective provides the foundation for A Study in Songbook, where his piano and vocal identities meet in the intimate setting of a jazz trio.

PLAYERS, INSTRUMENT:
Dr. Gianni Bianchini — piano, vocals
Ross Kratter — bass
Sam Hart — drums

www.giannibianchini.com