Lynne Arriale

Lynne Arriale (pianist) was born on May 29, 1957, in Milwaukee and grew up as Lynn Bernstein in Fox Point, a North Shore suburb of Milwaukee. She began piano at age four and continued classical studies with Adelaide Banaszynski (known as Miss B) and Rebecca Penneys. She attended Nicolet High School, followed by a degree in music theory from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1979. She continued studying with Penneys and earned a master’s degree in classical piano in 1981 through the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music college program.

Although she had been almost exclusively focused on classical studies, just as she was completing her master’s program, she decided to study jazz piano with David Hazeltine. Within a couple of years, she was proficient enough to start working jazz gigs at Milwaukee venues such as the Jazz Gallery, Snug’s in the Shorecrest Hotel, and the Coffee Trader on Downer Avenue. For a couple of years in the mid-1980s, she performed several nights a week at the Midway Motor Lodge in Glendale with a band that included vocalist Marcia Cunningham, bassist Al Anderson, and drummer Randy Baugher.

In the late 1980s, Lynne moved to New York City, where she soon found work at clubs such as Tavern on the Green, Sweet Basil, and Fat Tuesday’s with a trio that included Jay Anderson on bass and Steve Davis on drums. She began recording and touring throughout the United States and Europe. In 1990, she was selected to perform on a tour of Japan with 100 Golden Fingers—a group of ten pianists that included Monty Alexander, Kenny Barron, Ray Bryant, Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones, Roger Kellaway, Harold Mabern, Junior Mance, and Cedar Walton. In 1993, she won the Great American Jazz Piano Competition.

Lynne lived in New York City for 14 years before relocating to Indiana and then to Jacksonville, Florida, where she joined the University of North Florida jazz faculty in 2007. At the time, the program was headed by Milwaukee native Bunky Green. She is currently a professor of jazz studies and director of small ensembles at UNF, and she continues to perform, record, and tour.

Check out Lynne Arriale performing her composition "Journey" with Jasper Somsen on bass, and E.J. Strickland on drums, recorded live in Belgium on October 12, 2019. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzJccOO92es

More information can be found at: https://www.lynnearriale.com/