The husband of jazz vocalist Suzanne Pittson,
Jeff Pittson is a cerebral post-bop pianist whose crystalline playing was influenced by
Chick Corea,
Bill Evans and
Herbie Hancock, among others.
Pittson was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he began studying classical piano at the age of ten. As a young adult,
Pittson played in a U.S. Navy band from 1972-76 before studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1976-77. After that, the pianist returned to the Bay Area and earned a degree in music education from San Francisco State University in 1985. In the 1990s, Pittson was employed as a sideman on albums by
Maynard Ferguson, drummer
Wally Schnalle and his wife
Suzanne.
Pittson's first album as a leader, Go Where It's Dangerous, came out on Vineland in 1999. ~ Alex Henderson