Steven Schoenberg

Steven Schoenberg is a dynamic, award-winning composer/pianist whose talents cross into musical theater, classical compositions, film scoring, children’s music, and solo improvisational piano performances. His acclaimed recordings, Pianoworks and Three Days in May, and the newly released Steven Schoenberg Live: An Improvisational Journey, are available on CD. He regularly performs improvisational piano concerts and has appeared at concert halls throughout the United States.

He dodges. He weaves. He’s playful. He’s dissonant. He evokes a range of American piano music and pianists, from Fess to Fats. He plays stride. He plays blues. He never allows his ideas to trap him in corners that he can’t think and/or play his way out of. Refined, graceful, charming–all describe what Massachusetts-based composer-pianist Steven Schoenberg evokes on this impressive live set.
~ Robert Baird, Stereophile, October 2010

Pianist Steven Schoenberg is actually listed as a “classical” pianist, but his solo recording work is definitely in the jazz vein. This recording of a concert from 2006 finds him giving spontaneous improvisations, but where he differs from other pianists (who shall remain nameless, but whose name rhymes with ferret) who have gone down this road is that Schoenberg gives off a feeling that he’s trying to communicate with the audience, making the music a two way street. “Notes,” for example has Schoenberg creating a tune from the notes shouted out from the audience, while “In The Darkness” is performed with all of the lights of the theatre turned off. All of this would be gimmickry if the music weren’t any good, but Schoenberg has a melodious touch on the piano, but isn’t afraid to go from ethereal sounds to boogie woogie on a dime. All of the tunes keep there interest after repeated hearings (another difference from the other artist), and show a guilelessness on songs like “Day and Night” and “Purple Sky” that is refreshing.
~ George W. Harris Jazzweekly

Steven Schoenberg, a pianist with a staunch commitment to pure improvisation, performs heartfelt solo pieces that range from the bluesy to the rhapsodic. ~ Time Out New York