Leon Gruenbaum

U.S. pianist and keyboards player. Leon Gruenbaum started playing classical piano at the age of 5. During this period he attended classes in piano and clarinet, as well as music theory at the New England Conservatory. In the Summer before high school, he also took jazz lessons at Berklee. Throughout his youth he performed with his brothers in the Dapele Trio, writing arrangements of jazz and pop tunes. In 1985 he received a BA in Mathematics from Harvard University. He then spent a few years in Baltimore, performing extensively with Rumba Club - a Latin jazz band. When he moved to New York in 1988, he came up with the idea of the Samchillian, a relativistic keyboard controller, for which he received a patent, and subsequently began recording and performing on it worldwide with such artists as Vernon Reid, James Blood Ulmer and many others. In addition, over the years he has performed with many world-renowned musicians, such as: Bruce Hornsby, Chaka Khan, Nana Vasconcelos, Cyro Baptista, Burnt Sugar, Rebellum, Corey Glover, Aaron Comess, Jojo Mayer, Micah Gaugh, MCPS, and many others. He has showcased his music invention with his own various projects: L.E.G. Slurp, Math Camp and most recently with "Genes and Machines", a band which features his compositions, vocals and the Samchillian as well. Greg Tate describes their debut recording, Heart Shaped Ass, as "a sweet blend of mood, romp and ruckus...quite stochastically Krunk" With Genes and Machines and other projects he has played at the following venerable New York institutions: BAM Cafe, CBGB, Carnegie Hall, Irving Plaza, Lincoln Center, The Stone, Rockwood Music Hall, Tonic, The Cooler, The Knitting Factory, Roulette, Carnegie Hall, and Summer Stage in Central Park. He also creates soundtracks for several media such as feature movies, spots for television and dance plays. He writes and performs beautiful compositions for piano. In 2015 he began a completely free, improvised solo looping project, "Creative Apocalypse". In August 2015 he was invited to debut this project at Shapeshifter Lounge in Brooklyn. Creative Apocalypse regularly performs in an internet streaming broadcast, via Periscope. In early 2016, he will release an EP on vinyl of his abstract music on the Agenda Del Mondo label.