It All Started With a Toy

March is National Women’s History Month! We’ll be sharing stories about some of the most accomplished women in jazz, both nationally and locally. We hope you enjoy this tribute to the women of jazz. 

Adopted as an infant, Lynn Arriale remembers loving a toy piano she got at the age of three. She also loved Broadway musicals and could play just about anything by ear. So it came as little surprise when she learned later in life that her biological mother was a jazz vocalist. It was in her blood.

Arriale’s official piano training began when she was four and continued uninterrupted until she received her master’s degree from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. But her interest in jazz came to the forefront shortly thereafter when she was inspired by the music of Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett.  “Discovering the unlimited creative potential and artistic freedom in jazz changed my life,” Arriale has said.

For the past 20 years, Arriale has traveled the world playing contemporary jazz, crossover jazz, post-bop, hard-bop, and as a composer and leader of her trio.  She has performed with icons as Marian McPartland , and on such revered stages as Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center.  She was featured on the PBS series, “Profile of a Recording Artist,” has played on multiple NPR programs and in 1993 captured first prize at the Great American Jazz Competition in Florida. She is also a passionate jazz educator, giving workshops and clinics around the world, and was recently appointed by the International Association of Jazz Educators to its prestigious Jazz Piano Resource Team.

And to think, it all started with a plastic toy piano – every parent’s dream.