WIN Tickets to Lawrence Hobgood for Sat 30th Nov at LIT

Lawrence Hobgood plays L.I.T. this Saturday and we have 2 tickets to give away! All you have to do is go to Facebook and like and share the picture to put put into the draw!
Competition closes Friday.

Laurence Hobgood began formal piano study at age 6 in Dallas, TX where his father was chairman of the SMU theatre program. At age 12 he was introduced to Blues music through his family’s church. Several years later, after moving to Illinois, he began formal training in Jazz music. He attended the University of Illinois where he played for three years in the “A” jazz ensemble led by John Garvey. During that time his classical study continued with Ian Hobson.

After moving to Chicago in 1988, he established a local presence leading his own quintet and joining forces with some of Chicago’s premier players like Ed Peterson, Fareed Haque, and most importantly Paul Wertico. The group, Trio New, with Hobgood, Wertico, and bassist Eric Hochberg, played to critical acclaim and established a serious connection with Wertico that spans many projects and ensembles.

Hobgood received three consecutive fellowships to perform in the Aspen Music Festival’s 90, 91 and 92 seasons. There he played with Clark Terry, Gary Burton, Eddie Daniels, Sheila Jordon, Bob Mintzer, and Mark Whitfield among others.

In 1993 Hobgood met vocalist Kurt Elling and began a collaboration that resulted in Elling’s signing with the storied Blue Note label; with Hobgood as his co-producer and musical director Elling received Grammy nominations for each of his first three Blue Note releases. The two became great friends and were named 1995 Chicagoans of The Year in the Arts by the Chicago Tribune. They’ve toured the world several times and achieved climbed both the Billboard Jazz and airplay charts.

In 1996 Hobgood joined with Wertico and bassist Brian Torff to form a new trio called Union, who enjoyed a duo of releases on Naim Label in the 90s.

Since then, Hobgood has made taken time out from busy touring, writing and recording schedules with Elling to record three further headlining projects for Naim. Everybody who witnesses the Laurence Hobgood Trio supporting Kurt Elling live, agree, that Laurence Hobgood is the single most under-rated and ridiculously talented US jazz musician of his generation. All About Jazz describe Hobgood as “one of the finest pianists out there. Period.”