Graham Messer Band

At just 21 years of age, Graham is a young gun making a name for himself in the world of Jazz today. A dyed-in-the-wool bebop pianist, he seeks to uphold the tradition of Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Kenny Clarke, Hank Jones, and Barry Harris, among others, and treats their music equally as soul food and as ground as fertile for intellectual exploration as any of the great European masters of the last 400 years. Armed with a rigorous classical training, he has to quote one local great, "made a substantive contribution towards raising the 'mean tempo' of the tunes played within this sector of the S.F. jazz scene", though he feels just as at home on a contemplative ballad or a slow blues. You may find him performing under either one of his apt pseudonyms, Dud Powell or Barely Harris. (inside jazz joke!)