Armas Maiste
Maiste, Armas or Art (b Armas). Pianist, b Tallinn, Estonia, 9 Mar 1929, naturalized Canadian 1965; B MUS (McGill) 1972. After early study at the State Academy of Music in Estonia and six years at the State Academy in Stockholm (where he developed his interest in jazz), Maiste moved to Montreal in 1950. There, until 1983, his career included nightclub engagements as a soloist and as an accompanist to Sammy Davis, Jr, Joyce Hahn (to whom he was married during the mid-1950s), Carmen Miranda, and others, as well as concert, radio, and TV performances in classical, contemporary music, jazz, and variety programs. He served 1958-83 as the orchestral pianist with the MSO and continued to appear until 1986 on the orchestra's recordings.
Maiste appeared at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival, at the 1973 EBU-sponsored festival in Oslo, and, as a member of the RCI-sponsored 'All-Star Jazz Sextet,' at the 1979 Bracknell, North Sea, and Montreux jazz festivals. He taught 1974-83 at McGill University and then took a position at Humber College in Toronto in 1984. He has also taught at the RCMT. His pupils have included the jazz pianists Luc Beaugrand, James Gelfand, Steve Holt, and Dave Restivo. Clearly a musician of remarkable versatility, Maiste has demonstrated his stylistic proficiency and technical assurance on the LPs Bach and the Blues and Pianostyles. For the latter he played in the manner of jazz pianists as diverse as James P. Johnson, Bud Powell, Erroll Garner, and Bill Evans.
Kristjan Randalu
Kristjan Randalu belongs to the most sought-after piano players of his generation, carrying the torch in both the improvised world of jazz and the traditional realm of classical music – Herbie Hancock has called him “a dazzling piano player”. Between creating his own original blend of contemporary jazz as a leader and collaborating with several generations of respected musicians, from the likes of fellow ECM recording artist Trygve Seim to saxophonist David Liebman, Randalu has brought his music to some of the world’s most renowned jazz festivals and concert halls. At the same time, he is viewed as an esteemed interpreter of a broad spectrum of contemporary and classical music, performing alongside internationally acclaimed orchestras and conductors.
Born in Estonia’s capital Tallinn to pianist parents in 1978, Randalu and his family soon moved to Germany where he began studying piano in Karlsruhe and Cologne before graduating from the Stuttgart Music University. His studies would later bring him to the Royal Academy of Music in London as well as the Manhattan School of Music, attaining an additional master’s degree and exposing him to respected teachers such as John Taylor, Django Bates and Kenny Barron, among many others.
