Julian Waterfall Pollack

Biography
At the mere age of nineteen, New York Pianist Julian Waterfall Pollack has the jazz community abuzz with his remarkably mature, technically ferocious, and dynamically original piano playing. A classically trained pianist, Pollack has unleashed into the world a singular blend of music that combines his love for today’s popular music styles and a respect for the classical tradition” with a forward-looking, innovative virtuosity well beyond his young years.
On his aptly-titled debut recording, Goin’ For It (Jazzschool Records, 2006), Pollack does just that. Writes San Jose Mercury News critic Andrew Gilbert: “Pollack may have started Goin’ For It as a student, but with the completion of his first album, he has earned the right to teach some lessons of his own.” The opening tracks “Take Me Outside” and “Valeria” may well be a contrast in style, but they are more clearly an indication of the astounding range of Pollack’s musical and compositional talent. His innovative approaches in re-imagining the jazz standard repertory include a new melodic and rhythmic structure in the pop music idiom of Miles Davis’ “Four,” and a jaw-dropping, re-harmonization with a hip-hop backbeat of John Coltrane’s famously complex “Giant Steps.” After the release of Goin’ For It, JAZZIZ Magazine selected the high-octane original, “Take Me Outside,” to be on its monthly CD series, JAZZIZ On Disc (October 2006).
Among his many accomplishments, Pollack has been featured on Marian McPartland’s renowned NPR show, Piano Jazz. He also has performed with the likes of Joshua Redman, Nicholas Payton, Miguel Zenon, Eric Harland, and Andre Hayward, and at prestigious venues such as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and Yoshi’s, and international festivals including Montreux, Umbria, and Monterey. Pollack is also the recipient of numerous prestigious national awards, such as the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA) Level One Gold Prize and member of its Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars, Down Beat’s Student Music Award for “Outstanding High School Jazz Instrumental Group” (2004, 2005), as well as 1st Place, Combo Division in consecutive years (2005, 2006) and “Outstanding Soloist” three years running (2004, 2005, 2006) at Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Festival. Pollack attended Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California and was the principal pianist of the Award-Winning Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble and was the leader of the Award-Winning Combos. He served as the principal pianist for the San Francisco Bay Area's preeminent honors youth ensemble, the SFJAZZ All-Star High School Ensemble, for his four high school years, making him the very first “full-scholarship” student of the program.
In addition to his astounding ability in jazz, Pollack’s self-released album Alive Again showcases his compositional diversity in the pop and rock genres, on which he plays guitar, bass, drums, and performs vocals. In August of 2007, Pollack released two new CDs: Grace and Julian, a collaboration with New York singer/songwriter Grace Weber, and Solidute, Pollack’s first Solo Piano Recording. Both CDs were released on Pollack and Weber’s newly formed record label, June Beat Records.
Press Quotes
“…a wonderful new player on the jazz scene…watch out for this kid!” -- Marian McPartland, host of NPR’s Piano Jazz, jazz legend
“I want to be the first to say it: Julian is a genius.” -- Albert "Tootie Heath", jazz legend
“...a tremendously gifted player whose debut CD, Goin' For It, is the work of an artist advanced far beyond his 18 years.” -- Contra Costa Times
“[Pollack's] been turning heads for a while now, because his playing is loose, confident, rhythmically assured, and emotionally committed.” -- San Jose Mercury News
“...uncannily young and astonishingly talented...” -- San Francisco Classical Voice