BIO

Craig Jaster had early exposure to singing, songwriting and arranging as a child, when an as-yet-unknown composer named Andrew Lloyd Webber created Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as guest artist at his primary school, which the students performed as an oratorio with a rock band at London’s St. Paul’s Church. As a teenager growing up in Washington, DC in the '70s, he was deeply influenced by legendary indie radio station WHFS, which then championed everything from funk and jazz to newgrass and folk, and he attended countless free outdoor concerts at nearby American University. By age 15 he was writing songs, playing mandolin and singing in folk/rock bands, and setting lyrics by Shakespeare and Georg Büchner to new music for a local Summer theater group.

 

In college he worked as a modern dance accompanist and music director, which he continued in New York City until moving to rural New Hampshire in 1987, where he taught at small independent schools and played in rock and dance bands. Local jazz musicians took notice, and eventually the primarily self-taught pianist went on to teach jazz piano at Plymouth State University (1999-2004), and became a sought after sideman and session player for both local and touring jazz artists.

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He moved to Europe in 2017 and currently lives in Florence, Italy, though he returns to the US regularly to perform with his trio and with The Buskers. In 2019 he also worked with Washington, DC area Happenstance Theater as music director/composer/performer in Pantheon, which premiered at Baltimore Theater Project.  

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CRAIG JASTER

     Craig Jaster Trio                                  2017

     Poor Little Jesus (single)                     2018

     Keep on Your Side of the Road (single) 2019

 

THE BUSKERS

    The Buskers                                           1999

    Ray’s Vacation                                        2004

    Spank That Tambourine                       2009

    Every Day We Play A New Song (EP)  2013

 

OTHER

     Sweet, Hot & Sassy           Too Hot For Words                    1997

     Lester Hirsh                        Sweet Surrender                        1998

     The Parlor Band                 The Parlor Band                         2000

     Rik Pfenninger                    Driving Through My Day Gig   2006

     Rik Pfenninger                    That’s Kool                                 2007

     Diane Kordas                      Spinning Around the Sun…     2009

     James Dunigan                  Hell or High Water (EP)             2009

     Bradley Winfield Parker     Done Turned On                       2010

     Joe Droukas                        Better Man                                2013

     Paul Hubert                         All Connected                           2015

DISCOGRAPHY