Biography

“The creative line is always firm and his musical gestures are clear and communicative” ~ quotes the Jamaica Journal about its native-born pianist.

“Mr. Hammond’s multidimensional ability expresses itself at all levels of his music and his influences emerge, in part, from performing with artists across the musical spectrum” ~ Janet Enright, jazz guitarist and screenwriter.

A distinguished jazz pianist and composer, Orville Hammond began his piano studies at age seven. His involvement with, and passion for, jazz emerged early on. His music reveals varied stylistic influences and an affinity for his Caribbean roots.

Hailed by the Knoxville News-Sentinel as “… a pleasant surprise …” in a review of his Knoxville performances, Mr. Hammond has opened for Bill Cosby, Tony Bennett and Gary Burton; he has performed with John Blake and Wendell Logan; Jamey Aebersold, Benny Golson, Branford Marsalis and Nathan Davis; Major Holley and Richard Davis; Conrad Herwig, Jimmy Cliff, Somi, Gilberto Gil, Hermeto Pascoal and Kenny Wheeler, to name a few. Hammond’s performances have been well received throughout Kentucky, the Southeastern United States and internationally in Spain, Brazil, Morocco, and the Montreux and Ocho Rios international jazz festivals. He has appeared with the Lexington Philharmonic, and as soloist, with the Louisville and Knoxville Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Czech Martinu Philharmonic, under the baton of Maestro Kirk Trevor. In 2008, he spent five months in Morocco at the Casablanca Plaza’s Jazz Club as pianist/music director with a quartet-in-residence comprised of musicians from several nations, including Senegal, Morocco, France, and the United States.

Hammond earned prestige at a young age, with diplomas awarded by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, under the tutelage of the late Jamaican pianist, Fay Ennever-Robotham. He received gold and silver medal awards for performances in classical and jazz music competitions and began his professional career as pianist-in-residence at the Jamaica Playboy Club. At Oberlin College, Ohio, where he earned the Bachelor of Music, Hammond studied with pianists Frances Walker and Sanford Margolis. He holds the Master of Music in Jazz Performance from the Eastman School of Music. Hammond has studied also with pianist Jim McNeely, the late Sanford Gold, at the Taubman and Golandsky Piano Institutes, and has been a teacher of piano and jazz at several schools of music, including extended appointments at the Edna Manley College for the Performing Arts, in Kingston, and the University of Kentucky. He has been a guest clinician in piano and instrumental music for the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts’ outreach program, for over ten years and has conducted clinics and master classes in jazz and improvised music at several universities across the United States.

A versatile composer, Hammond’s compositions have been premiered in Martinique, the Czech Republic and New York City. His Brazil-inspired composition “Evening Shores” was awarded first place in the Jazz-a-la Martinique composition contest for Caribbean composers and performed by acclaimed pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba. He scored the music for the documentary film “Ellis Wilson-So Much To Paint,” produced by Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and has been featured in the publications “Arts Across Kentucky” and “The Jamaica Journal.”

Orville Hammond is a recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Council. He has been featured on Black Entertainment Television and opened this millennium with a New York debut in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He performs throughout the south-eastern United States, and can be heard on his recording “Live: Through Their Eyes.” Hammond is the 2010 Jazz Artist-in-Residence at the Edna Manley College for the Performing Arts.

Artist Statement

My mission in music performance is to present a high level of artistry and to share with audiences my passion for performing. Underlying this passion is a quest for consistency with each performance-an element always evident in the best of artists.

I delight in the variety of creative experiences that have contributed to my musical growth: from calypso through top forty tunes, classical music, reggae and show tunes, to jazz. These have enabled me to foster an element that is endemic to our art form-improvisation. I am fond of saying: "Life is improvisational jazz."

With my musical colleagues, we share musical conversations, friendly rivalry and repartee, with our audiences. The challenge is to convey the joy of exploration, to teach audiences about our music and to inspire them, through the process of creative thinking, to lofty ideals.

“The creative line is always firm and his musical gestures are clear and communicative” ~ the Jamaica Journal.

“…a pleasant surprise…” ~ The Knoxville News-Sentinel, in a review of his Knoxville, Tennessee performances.