Harvey Diamond

The legendary jazz pianist Harvey Diamond has graced the Boston area for decades with his music which is at once both deeply intricate and deeply emotional to even the most casual listener.

A student of Lennie Tristano through Tristano's last decade, Harvey has performed with NEA Jazz Masters Sheila Jordan, Dave Liebman, and Art Farmer, and also with many other great musicians including Charles Neville, Herb Pomeroy, Harvie S, John Scofield, John Abercrombie, George Mraz, Jay Clayton, Joe Hunt, Don Alias, Billy Drummond, Francisco Mela, Jason Palmer, Cameron Brown, Marc Johnson, and Marcus McLaurine. After decades of patience by his fans, he has finally released some recordings, including It Could Happen To You (Apple Music) with Domenic Landolf, Arne Huber and Jorge Rossy (2019); Look Up For Down with Hannah Rose Diamond, Jamie MacDonald, and Claire Arenius (2019); Fair Weather with Cameron Brown (2018); and The Harvey Diamond Trio (Amazon, Apple Music) with Marcus McLaurine and Satoshi Takeishi (2015). His performances at Mezzrow are archived at SmallsLive.

Over the years, he has performed across the U.S. and in Europe. He has performed at New York's Mezzrow, Kitano, Apollo Theater, Bar Bayeux, The Drawing Room, the Cornelia Street Cafe and The Stone; Basel's bird's eye jazz club and with Domenic Landolf, Roberto Koch, and Jorge Rossy at Roche 'n' Jazz; Berlin's Club A-Trane; Minneapolis' Crooners Lounge; Boston's Regattabar, Scullers, Ryles, Mandorla Music Series, and Acton Jazz Café; the Vermont Jazz Center and many others venues. He has been a guest on WGBH Radio on Eric Jackson's Show Eric in the Evening and at the Lennie Tristano Symposium for two years, including this perfomance at the 2007 Lennie Tristano Symposium. He has performed at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, was the featured pianist at MIT's Herb Pomeroy First Memorial Concert, and at the New Hampshire Jazz Festival with Sheila Jordan.

Harvey Diamond is also a revered teacher in the US and in Europe. He has been on the faculty of the Vermont Jazz Center since 2003; has done workshops at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague; Boston University; University of Massachusetts, Lowell; and at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. As a private teacher, he carries the legacy of his teacher Lennie Tristano. He teaches piano as well as jazz and improvisation for all instruments and voice. He currently has openings. He can be reached by phone at 617-308-9405.

Harvey has been described as one of the unsung heroes of the Boston jazz scene since the mid-1960's, both as a performer and as a revered teacher. He plays with a rare combination of technique, intellect, subtlety and heart.

• [A] thoughtful and lyrical pianist, a local treasure who was among the final students of jazz guru Lennie Tristano. Kevin Lowenthal, The Boston Globe, 2023
• Marvelous pianist and local treasure Diamond was among the last students of the great jazz guru Lennie Tristano. His masterful playing seamlessly marries the cerebral and soulful. — Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe, 2022
• Pianist Diamond, among the last students of the legendary Lennie Tristano, improvises with beguiling intelligence and heart. His band includes heavyweight tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi and top-flight trumpeter Phil Grenadier, propelled by bassist Jon Dreyer and drummer Bertram Lehmann. — Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe
• When I attend a jazz concert, I don't expect the musicians to be "inspired" every time. I do expect that they play well. But sometimes, if I'm lucky, the musicians not only play well but also find that "inspiration." That was the case last night with Harvey Diamond and his quartet. Harvey opened with Horace Silver's "Peace," which set the tone for the rest of the evening. The standouts for me were a different arrangement of "Night in Tunisia," one of the staples in Harvey's bag. Phil Grenadier was on fire all night, but his solo this time had that "Wow" factor. Harvey's solo was blistering. And then there was "Blue in Green," another staple in Harvey's repertoire, but this version was sublime. Grenadier's solo caressed the notes, revealing the depths of the tune as well as his complete emergence in it. Beauty of this kind is rare, even in jazz. Later, Grenadier and Harvey plumbed the emotional side of "Body and Soul." Once again Grenadier's solo was a heartfelt rendition, as was Harvey's playing. Often Harvey explores the changes, deconstructing the tune. Not this time. This time it was all heart. Jon Dreyer on bass and Steve Langone on drums complemented each tune with their listening and reacting to Harvey and Phil. These tunes for me were the highlights of the evening. I have heard Harvey Diamond many times. Last night, on July 7, 2019, I heard magic. — Charles Ryan
• The simultaneously cerebral and soulful pianist extends the legacy of his legendary mentor Lennie Tristano. His band includes top-flight trumpeter Phil Grenadier and the top-notch rhythm section of bassist Jon Dreyer and drummer Austin McMahon. —Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe, June 24, 2021
• Count veteran pianist Harvey Diamond among those much-appreciated but too-rarely recorded figures in jazz. — Elzy Kolb, Hot House Jazz
• Harvey is a master teacher and player who has positively influenced legions of musicians over the years ... a true master. —NEA jazz master Dave Liebman
• Harvey Diamond remains not only a master musical artist, but an insightful, intuitive and amazing teacher. I owe much to him for the profound difference he has made in my life by teaching me how to create and about the virtues of patience and sensitivity when teaching my own students on their musical paths. His influence transcends through and beyond the music. Forever grateful. —Caris Visentin Liebman
• Harvey Diamond is a fantastic pianist. He plays from his heart and totally disappears into the song. He's a real joy to sing with. —NEA jazz master Sheila Jordan
• Harvey Diamond is a unique and brilliant musician: a pianist's pianist with a remarkable touch, unimpeachable technique and enormous dynamic range. A creative and unpredictable improvisor, Harvey's roots go back to Lennie Tristano and Bill Evans, spiced with just a touch of Cecil Taylor. He draws the audience into his world and holds it spellbound. —Cameron Brown
• Pianist Harvey Diamond is a national treasure to this great American art form known to many as jazz. When he plays I hear much more than that, I must say. I hear a light, buoyant artist who exudes joy in every phrase that he plays. I really get the feeling that he considers every note that he plays to be its own concert, that's how much love and care he puts into his work! —Jason Palmer
• Pianist Harvey Diamond … is almost as revered among Boston musicians as the Dalai Lama is in Tibet. —Critic Steve Elman of The Arts Fuse
• Diamond is a musician's musician with a penchant for honing gems from the Great American Songbook into personal statements that leave us yearning for more. Diamond will take a familiar melody, distill it into a basic sketch and then expand upon the song's form by elaborating its harmony, melody and stylistic presentation. He does all this with a complete absence of pretension so that his interpretations are egoless reflections of where he is in the moment, presented through a lens of years of study and experience. Diamond is a master of both melody and harmony much like his predecessors in the legacy of jazz piano, Bill Evans and Lennie Tristano. —Eugene Uman, music director of the Vermont Jazz Center
• Harvey Diamond is a bona fide master of the piano who has yet to receive the recognition he truly deserves. This is due to Harvey's tranquil humility ... He is recognized by his peers as the musician's musician. Diamond's reharmonizations of jazz standards are moving targets of surprise and beauty. The rapture he creates in his performances is cause for inner transformation. Harvey Diamond was one of Lennie Tristano's last students and perpetuates the Tristano legend, teaching private students and coaching ensembles. —Soprano Monica Hatch at the 2007 Lennie Tristano Symposium
• Pianist Diamond, among the last students of jazz guru Lennie Tristano, plays with melodic invention, subtlety, and heart. Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe

Contact

Harvey Diamond can be reached by phone at 617-308-9405.

Jon Dreyer

Please like me! • Jon Dreyer • 781-696-2614 • 341 Red Acre Rd, Stow MA 01775-1185 • email