Aaron Parks (jazz pianist)

Aaron Parks (born October 7, 1983) is an American jazz pianist. A native of Seattle, Parks studied at the University of Washington at the age of 14 through the Transition School and Early Entrance Program as a double major in computer science and music. At 15, he was selected to participate in the Grammy High School Jazz Ensembles which inspired him to move to New York City and transfer to the Manhattan School of Music. At Manhattan one of his teachers was Kenny Barron. During his final year, he began touring with Terence Blanchard's band, recording three albums with them for Blue Note, including the Grammy-winning A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina). Parks can be heard on the soundtracks: Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Spike Lee and films: Inside Man, She Hate Me, and When the Levees Broke. Parks released his first four albums on Keynote Records between 1999 and 2002. In 2008, he released Invisible Cinema, his debut for Blue Note. Following this, he released two albums for ECM, and is currently an artist on Ropeadope Records. He is a member of the band James Farm with saxophonist Joshua Redman, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. He has toured with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. 2001: Cole Porter Fellow of the American Piano Awards 2006: Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition (third place) Jas Hennessy Piano Solo Competition at Montreux (third place) 2016: DownBeat magazine: “25 for the Future” Main sources: James Farm With Joshua Redman, Matt Penman and Eric Harland James Farm (Nonesuch, 2011) City Folk (Nonesuch, 2014) Collar, Matt. "Aaron Parks". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 September 2018. "GRAMMY.com". www.grammy.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. "CRITICS' CHOICE: NEW CDS; Aaron Parks". New York Times. August 18, 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2020. "James Farm". Nonesuch. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013. "Aaron Parks". Blue Note. Retrieved 29 July 2013. Panken, Ted (July 2016). "25 for the Future / Aaron Parks". DownBeat. Vol. 83, no. 7. Chicago. p. 36. Retrieved 2020-03-06. "Find the Way". ECM Records. Retrieved March 18, 2023. "Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man | Aaron Parks". Aaronparksmusic.bandcamp.com. Retrieved March 18, 2023. "Volume One". Aaronparksmusic.bandcamp.com. Retrieved March 18, 2023. "Volume Two". Aaronparksmusic.bandcamp.com. Retrieved March 18, 2023. Vernon, Jon (December 11, 2025). "Review of Aaron Parks – By All Means". jazzviews.net. Retrieved December 11, 2025. "Aaron Parks Discography". jazzdisco. Retrieved March 18, 2023. "Aaron Parks". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018. "„Zuversicht" von Nils Wülker bei Apple Music". January 30, 2026 – via music.apple.com. Official site Aaron Parks at NPR Music