A cantora, pianista e compositora de jazz Joanne Brackeen nasceu no 26 de julho de 1938 ,em Ventura na Califórnia. Casada com o saxofonista tenor Charles Brackeen, inventou-se que ela se retirou por sete anos de sua promissora carreira, no início da década de 60, para criar e cuidar de seus quatro filhos. Na verdade, mesmo tendo que dedicar mais tempo para a familia, jamais deixou de se apresentar nos shows em clubes de jazz.
Desde que voltou ao cenário do jazz, em 1966, Joanne construiu uma sólida carreira, como uma instrumentista bem distinta, com seu próprio approach no ataque dos teclados e na ênfase rítmica, e como uma notável compositora e educadora. Autodidata em piano, apesar de dizer que aprendeu nota por nota, através dos discos de Frankie Carle.
Brackeen mudou-se para Los Angeles com a idade de 16 anos e trabalhou com Dexter Gordon, Charles Lloyd e Teddy Edwards no final dos anos 50, até que saiu de cena para criar sua família. Depois de seu retorno no final dos anos 60 e também durante a década de 70, ela se apresentou com Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz e Dave Liebman.
Já no final dos anos 70, ela era uma das melhores pianistas de jazz e então, começou a trabalhar com grupos próprios, excursionando, gravando e participando de festivais de jazz ao redor do mundo. A incorporação em seu estilo de elementos considerados de vanguarda, faz com que sua música ganhe mais cores para seus improvisos.
Continua na ativa se apresentando esporadicamente em show e programas de televisão.
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Fonte Clube do JazzJoanne Brackeen is one of jazz's most prized possessions: a virtuoso pianist and master composer who epitomizes the history and evolution of jazz from traditional to free, and everything in between; all with a contemporary edge. Joanne's unique sound was honed through a period of apprenticeship with some of the world's greatest names: Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, and the list goes on.
Since the mid 70's, Joanne has been at the forefront of new music, recording over 20 albums as a leader with some of the most respected musicians in jazz. Her playful and complex sense of time, rhythm and mood permeates her repertoire, which now numbers close to 300 original compositions, 100 of which have been recorded.
Joanne was born Joanne Grogan in Southern California in 1938, and began to play the piano at the age of 9, even though she had been yearning to play from age 5. A grand piano her parents owned lured her to the keys, but “mysteriously” disappeared and was replaced by a tiny upright. Her lessons were a disaster however, because the teacher required the students to play basic classical exercises. “That was not my idea of what piano music was!” laughs Joanne. “What I really wanted to play was what I was hearing on the radio. So of course, I didn't practice.” Her exposure to jazz began during this time with the recordings of bandleader and pianist Frankie Carle, who she imitated as she taught herself to play and improvise. “I figured out all the notes and chords for the left and right hands, because it never dawned on me that you couldn't do that without instruction. It took me about 6 months, and I copied about eight of the solos. I memorized them, then started playing out at school functions when I was 11 with a girlfriend on accordion!” As her talent was realized, she was accepted to the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, but she dropped out to pursue jazz because “too much of the education of the day was ineffective. All they did was talk about music. If I can't see or actually do something that I'm learning, I get very bored.”
FROM LOS ANGELES TO NEW YORK By the late 50's at the age of only 20, Joanne was sitting in on jam sessions in Los Angeles, playing with heavyweights like Dexter Gordon and Harold Land and gigging with Charles Lloyd, Bobby Hutcherson and Billy Higgins. Her jazz career was launched.
She met and married saxophonist Charles Brackeen in the early 60's, and subsequently had four children. Contrary to popular belief, Joanne never stopped her career during this period: “I wasn't always gigging, but I never stopped playing.”
When they moved to New York in the mid 60's, she began to command the attention of the upper echelon of jazz players and played with Woody Shaw and Dave Liebman in 1969. She spent the next several years with the ultimate working band, the Jazz Messengers, led by Art Blakey. “Art called me his adopted daughter,” says Joanne, “and he was the first person to say all the things that I heard inside myself since I was 9 or 10. I think that he influenced my whole musical experience. He played the way he talked, and the way he talked was the way I thought.” She became one of the most lauded pianists of the day, working with Joe Henderson for three years and two with saxophonist Stan Getz.
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