Jason Moran (musician)

Did You Know?

• Two of Moran's cousins, Tony and Michael Llorens, toured with Albert King playing piano and drums, and were recorded on In Session.
• Moran's father's record collection numbered around 10,000 albums in 2004.

Career

Moran grew up in the Pleasantville neighborhood of Houston. His parents, Andy and Mary, encouraged his artistic sensibilities through the Houston Symphony, museums, galleries, and a relationship with John T. Biggers. He began classical piano training at age six at Yelena Kurinets' Suzuki method music school. His father's record collection of around 10,000 albums ranged from Motown to classical to avant-garde jazz. As a boy, Moran preferred hip hop until age 13, when he heard Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" at home and shifted his focus to jazz. He found Monk's melodies easy to play, with rhythms reminiscent of hip hop and unorthodox harmonies. Both jazz and hip hop were part of Houston's skateboarding scene in which he participated. He attended HSPVA, graduating in 1993 from the jazz program led by Robert Morgan. In his senior year, he was student director of the school's jazz combo and part of the Texas high school all-state jazz ensemble. He then enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1997 with a BM degree, studying with pianist Jaki Byard. The next year he participated in Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead workshop, composing "Make a Decision" for the final concert. In 1997, while a senior, Moran was invited to join saxophonist Greg Osby's band for a European tour after a conversation about older piano jazz, with no audition. He made his first recorded appearance on Osby's 1997 Blue Note album Further Ado and later appeared on several other Osby albums. Osby introduced him to avant-garde pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Andrew Hill. His stint with Osby led to a contract with Blue Note. His debut Soundtrack to Human Motion was released in 1998, featuring Osby, drummer Eric Harland (a classmate who recommended him to Osby), vibraphonist Stefon Harris, and bassist Lonnie Plaxico.

Style and influences

Moran has cited numerous influences. In early years, The Bandwagon's live sets began with playing sampled sound tapes—conversation in English, foreign languages, or remixed musical heritage—from which the band would develop a melody. Non-musical artists he has cited include Piper, Jonas, Bruce Nauman, Bob Thompson, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Schiele, and Robert Rauschenberg. Alicia Hall Moran introduced him to contemporary classical music. He has noted that Robert Rauschenberg's chaotic refinement inspired his third album Black Stars. Moran has said that much of his aesthetic comes from what great repetition can do, and that he releases the notion that sound has to come from an instrument. He has also said he likes getting commissions because they broaden what he writes about.

Teaching and organization

Since 2010, Jason Moran has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music, leading two ensembles, offering private lessons, and running masterclasses. At the Kennedy Center, he served as jazz musical adviser starting in 2011 and became artistic director for jazz in 2014, a role previously held by Billy Taylor. He also put together the January 2011 event “713-->212: Houstonians in NYC” and the September 2014 festival Very Very Threadgill, a two-day tribute to Henry Threadgill, whom he calls his favorite composer. The Moran Scholarship Award, first given in 1994 to jazz students at HSPVA, is administered by Moran and his family. In 2005, they founded the Mary Lou Chester Moran Foundation in Houston for similar scholarship work. In 2013, he backed the American Federation of Musicians’ Justice for Jazz Artists campaign. He was named Honorary Professor at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory in 2015, regularly returning for workshops and masterclasses. The Manhattan School of Music awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2026.

Awards and honors

By the end of 2010, Jason Moran had a remarkable showing in the Village Voice Jazz Critics’ Poll. Francis Davis noted that Moran’s only real rival in that year’s poll was himself: his trio album Ten, the first in seven years, won Album of the Year by a wide margin. He also appeared on the runner-up album, Apex by Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green, and on Charles Lloyd’s Mirror, which placed fourth. Add in Paul Motian’s Lost in a Dream, and the newly minted 2010 MacArthur Fellow had four entries in the Top 10. The following year, JazzTimes’ expanded critics’ poll ranked Moran second for Artist of the Year and first for Pianist of the Year; the Charles Lloyd New Quartet took Acoustic Group of the Year, while Moran’s own group, The Bandwagon, came in fifth. In 2013, the New Quartet placed second in its category, and Moran again finished second among pianists. Earlier honors include the Jazz Journalists Association’s Up-n-Coming Jazz Musician award in 2003, and three consecutive years (2003–2005) as Down Beat critics’ poll Rising Star in Jazz Artist, Pianist, and Composer. In 2005, Playboy named him its first Jazz Artist of the Year. He became a USA Prudential Fellow in 2007 and a MacArthur Fellow in 2010. In 2013, he held residencies at SFJAZZ, Juilliard, and the Molde Jazz Festival. A documentary titled Grammar, exploring jazz through Moran’s work and genre boundaries, is in progress after director Radiclani Clytus raised funds via a 2012 Kickstarter campaign. In 2018, the Walker Art Center hosted his first museum survey, and Cultured Magazine named him an artist to watch. That same year, he composed the score for Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me, which premiered at the Apollo Theater.