Citing
Bill Evans and
Dave Brubeck as style inspirations, post-bop jazz pianist, composer, and arranger
Glenn Zaleski arrived on the American jazz scene with 2010's Duet Suite with his brother, saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader
Mark Zaleski. His piano playing received highly positive critical notice and garnered him a spot playing in the bands of
Ravi Coltrane,
Lage Lund, and
Ari Hoenig, and led his own trio on recordings for Capri and Sunnyside, including 2014's My Ideal with bassist
Dezron Douglas and drummer
Craig Weinrib.
Coltrane appeared as a guest on one track. The trio issued
Fellowship in 2017.
Zaleski has been become a fixture on the city's live jazz scene. He recorded
Live at Jazz Standard with drummer
Colin Stranahan and bassist
Rick Rosato for Capri in 2019, their third such outing.
A native of Boylston, Massachusetts,
Zaleski took part in the Brubeck Institute Fellowship at the University of the Pacific from 2005-2007, and followed an undergraduate degree from The New School in 2009 with graduate studies at N.Y.U. During his time there, he and his brother, saxophonist
Mark Zaleski, released the album Duet Suite in 2010. A year later,
Glenn joined bassist
Rick Rosato and drummer
Colin Stranahan for 2011's
Anticipation, issued on Capri Records. That same year,
Zaleski was also a finalist for the APA Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz and a semifinalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. He reunited with
Rosato and
Stranahan for 2013's
Limitless, also on Capri.
Saying he had 1959's
Everybody Digs Bill Evans and 1960's
Portrait in Jazz in mind when he recorded it,
Zaleski made his solo debut in 2015 with My Ideal, released by Sunnyside Communications. It included interpretations of tunes by the likes of
Jerome Kern,
Freddie Hubbard, and
Charlie Parker. An album of mostly originals recorded with bassist
Dezron Douglas and drummer
Craig Weinrib,
Fellowship followed on the same label in 2017. The following year, he released the album Solo, Vol. 1 as a free digital download through his website and label, Stark Terrace Music. 2019 saw another reunion with
Stranahan and
Rosato for
Live at Jazz Standard on Capri.
Summer walks with his wife in Brooklyn's Prospect Park led to the discovery of the Vale of Cashmere sanctuary, a small, secluded pond densely populated with trees. It became a favorite spot for meditation, composition, and cataloging music. Preparing for a recording and gigs,
Zaleski entered a New York studio with saxophonist
Lucas Pino, trumpeter
Adam O'Farrill, bassist
Desmond White, and drummer
Allan Mednard. The end result,
The Question, was released by Sunnyside in July of 2020. ~ Marcy Donelson & Thom Jurek