Brian Jude de Lima is a jazz pianist specializing in early jazz genres such as stride, swing, and bebop, as well as classical Impressionism. He is the professor of World Music and Musical Performance at Centennial College. He also teaches piano musicianship at York University, where he is currently completing a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology—working towards developing a new jazz curriculum for Ontario post- secondary institutions.As an artist, he has opened twice for Oscar Peterson and Diana Krall. He is a longtime student of one the great pedagogues in jazz, Dr. Barry Harris.After sustaining both a brain injury and myocardial infarction, Brian’s musical output became altered and he was faced with the challenge of relearning much of what he had already mastered as a youth. After countless tests and physical rehabilitation, he began to notice that his compositions and improvisations seemed to deviate from their usual course of trajectory. It was these unexpected life-altering events that became the crux for his Masters thesis on the topic of musicians who shared similar physical misfortunes and used their music and creativity as a coping mechanism.Professor de Lima’s most recent research has led him to propose that the avant-garde bebop jazz pianist Earl “Bud” Powell had never lost his musical prowess after his physical ailments— a view that is contrary to current taxonomies.

Joining Brian tonight is Ben Bishop (guitar) + Jon Meyer (bass)