Jed Distler

Composer/pianist Jed Distler studied with Andrew Thomas, Stanley Lock and William Komaiko, and taught for more than 20 years at Sarah Lawrence College. Early in his career Distler gained acclaim for his transcriptions of jazz piano solos by Art Tatum and Bill Evans, while his new music piano recitals have offered premiers of works by Virgil Thomson, Richard Rodney Bennett, Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Curran, Lois V Vierk, William Schimmel and many others. Distler’s presenting organization ComposersCollaborative, Inc earned a 2013 Guinness Record for world’s largest keyboard ensemble, featuring an composition of his scored for 175 electronic keyboards. A Steinway Artist, Distler records for the high resolution Spirio player piano, and is featured on an upcoming Steinway & Sons CD release “Cole Porter on a Steinway Volume 1.” The TNC label recently released Distler’s solo piano CD “Fearless Monk.”

As Artist-in-Residence for WWFM.Org The Classical Network, Distler is the creator, host and producer of Between the Keys, a weekly program that won the 2017 ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award for excellence in broadcasting. Distler gained notoriety helping to uncover a scandal exposing hundreds of recordings fraudulently recited to pianist Joyce Hatto, and was featured in a BBC television documentary on the subject. Distler contributes reviews and articles to Gramophone and Classicstoday.com, and is the author of numerous CD booklet notes. His music is available on the Sony, Point, Nonesuch, CRI, New World, Bridge, Steinway & Sons, Musical Concepts and TNC Music labels.

Most importantly, Distler turned down the position of Music Department Chair at Trump University.