Lafayette Gilchrist

Lafayette Gilchrist
Lafayette Gilchrist in Milan, Italy, on January 28, 2008
Background information
Born	(1967-08-03) August 3, 1967 (age 49) Washington, D.C., United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instruments	Piano
Associated acts	David Murray

Lafayette Gilchrist (born August 3, 1967) is an American jazz pianist and composer. As of January 2014, he lived in Baltimore. He has had a long association with saxophonist David Murray, with whom he has toured internationally.

Gilchrist leads an octet/nonet named the New Volcanoes, and a trio called Inside Out (with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Eric Kennedy). Gilchrist acknowledges multiple influences on his music: "I come from hip-hop culture, [...] I'm not a rapper. I'm not a DJ. I'm not a dancer. But I feed off of all that. All of that's part of what I grew up in, what I grew up around."

Gilchrist was born in Washington, D.C. on August 3, 1967; he also grew up there. His mother, Janice Taylor Murdock, worked for the Federal Aviation Administration. As a child, "his musical interests were Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5 and other soulful greats that flooded the airwaves of Black radio." Gilchrist's mother remarried when he was 14, at which point they moved to Prince George's County. He also enjoyed the local go-go at this time, and listened to Chuck Brown practicing near his aunt's home. Brown played jazz standards in a different style; Gilchrist observed that "it taught me that you can combine funk grooves and jazz".

In his late teens, Gilchrist took up boxing and considered joining the army, but was steered away from both by his stepfather. Gilchrist moved to Baltimore when he was 17, to study economics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He started playing the piano at the same time – he stated that he started practicing in the piano rooms of his university after briefly playing the Steinway grand in its recital hall while a summer school student before beginning his degree. He taught himself to play and compose music, and received feedback on his compositions from music students. He graduated in 1992, with a BA in African-American studies.

In 1993 Gilchrist formed the New Volcanoes, as a quartet that also contained trumpeter Freddie Dunn, bassist Vince Loving, and drummer Nate Reynolds. Trumpeter and sound engineer Mike Cerri was soon added, and Gilchrist recorded his first album, The Art Is Life, as a sextet with James Dephilipo added on euphonium. This was self-released, as was Gilchrist's second album, Asphalt Revolt. He played with the New Volcanoes and gave solo performances on the East Coast for several years after graduating.