Samora Pinderhughes

Pianist, composer, and arranger Samora Pinderhughes is 16 years old. He began studying Venezuelan and Cuban percussion at age two and jazz and Latin piano at age seven and has since had the honor of studying with Bill Bell, Geechi Taylor, Benny Green, Patrice Rushen, Frank Foster, Carl Allen, Ndugu Chancler, Rodney Whitaker, Marcus Belgrave, Ben Hevero, David Michel-Ruddy, LaDene Otsuki, Glen Pearson, and Susan Muscarella. He is the recipient of multiple awards for musicality and composition; including a Downbeat Award for “best original composition/best song” for ‘Catch 22’, the title track on his first CD; an Earl “Fatha” Hines award for Superior Achievement in Piano Performance and a John H. Imbrie Memorial Scholarship for Superior Achievement in Composition from UC Berkeley’s Young Musicians Program. He has won awards for Outstanding Musicianship from the Folsom Jazz Festival in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and the Reno Jazz Festival in 2008. In 2007 he was commissioned to compose a Latin jazz piece for the prestigious Caramoor Music Festival, which he titled “Caminando”, and which has since been performed at numerous venues, including Carnegie Hall, by Sonidos Latinos, under the direction of world renowned Venezuelan flautist Marco Granados. His compositions have been recorded and performed by artists such as Grammy nominated percussionist John Santos and his Machete Ensemble. He is first pianist with the nationally award-winning Berkeley High School jazz ensemble and combos under the direction of Charles Hamilton, and performs regularly with Berkeley High Jazz, the SF Jazz High School All-Stars, Indigo, and Catch 22, a duo he founded with his sister who plays flute and sings with the group. In addition, he is a member of the Get Back Crew and the Jack Sprat Collective, two popular Bay Area-based hip hop groups. He has performed at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Yoshi’s Jazz Club, San Jose Jazz Festival, Caramoor Music Festival, Moab Music Festival, Fillmore Jazz Festival, Reno Jazz Festival, Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival and the Yerba Buena Latin Music Festival, as well as in jazz venues throughout Japan. Please check out my website if you have time: www.pinderhughes.netAlso, i have a YouTube channel with my sister: youtube.com/pinderhughesmusic.Thank you for checking my music out, and have a wonderful day!