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"Simply beautiful Cat.
You can feel it in every note he plays"
-QUINCY JONES
MUSICIAN BIO
Jazz pianist Justin Kauflin is an award-winning musician. As leader, player, composer, and producer, he has released 10 recordings to date, including his first vinyl live recording, Justin Kauflin Trio Live at Sam First, and collaborated on more than 30 albums, among them Oscar, with Love, a tribute to the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. For 10 years, he has worked and toured under the management of Quincy Jones and Quincy Jones Productions. In addition, he has scored a number of short films and feature-length documentaries including Reflection: A Walk with Water and Liv. Justin is featured in, as well as composed the film score for, the Academy Award short-listed documentary, Keep On Keepin' On, about his mentor, the late legendary jazz trumpeter, Clark Terry. He recently joined the jazz faculty at the Governor’s School for the Arts, a magnet-level performing arts school where he was a student from 2000 to 2004, helping to develop a new generation of young talented musicians in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. Justin continues to tour, with upcoming performances in Canada, Denmark and India, and will be performing in a number of tribute concerts for Oscar Peterson's Centennial Celebration.
“Make sure you have enough time to absorb all the beautiful things in Justin’s talent…his timing, rhythm, technique and exactness…See if you’ll agree with me. He’s a monster on the piano! And, one of the greatest people I know” -CLARK TERRY
“What I liked about Justin was he’d done his homework. God gives you the right brain, everyone’s got emotion, but you gotta practice, you gotta put the left-brain work in. You need musicality AND discipline.” -QUINCY JONES in The New Yorker
“Simply beautiful cat…you can feel it in every note he plays” -QUINCY JONES
“There are so many beautiful things about Justin's playing -- the best being his spirit and spirituality. It's commendable he has that kind of relationship with the instrument and the music. He is accomplishing great things!” -MULGREW MILLER
"What separates American jazz pianist Justin Kauflin from his rivals is the soulfulness of his repertoire. This is a musician who wants to do more than make you admire his virtuosity" -THE TIMES
"Kauflin is without a doubt a virtuoso; he plays with a compelling and soulful passion, and definitely worth catching live" -JAZZ IN EUROPE
"Kauflin's strengths are a concern for touch and dynamics ... He can take a simple motif like the Beatle's 'Day in the Life' and make a swinging concerto out of it" -LOS ANGELES TIMES
"I'm SO proud of Justin for creating this absolutely stunning Christmas album as a representation of his journey to find peace in any situation he encounters." -QUINCY JONES (Silent Night)
"Kauflin’s execution, his ability to ripple waves of notes from the keyboard flawlessly and evoke colorful meadows of sound is unquestionably superb" -DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE (Coming Home)
“With Introducing, Kauflin has immediately established himself as a stellar jazz player, composer, leader and producer. It is rare for a young musician to produce an album that displays the kind of maturity in evidence here. He has a touch and imagination that is immensely appealing - JERSEY JAZZ (Introducing Justin Kauflin)
“His classical training is apparent in his delicate touch, clear articulation, and ability to unspool long, graceful, improvised melodic lines” -JAZZ TIMES (Dedication)
"...the exquisite nature of Justin Kauflin’s playing, so wise beyond his years and so wonderfully articulate that it is bordering on genius. Dedication is a testament to sheer brilliance of technique and unbridled imagination." -WORLD MUSIC REPORT (Dedication)
"Meanwhile Mr Kauflin wishes to – and succeeds in – opening our minds to his world that is “extremely colourful and textured.” For in sheer colour, texture and variety, in the depth of characterisation and in the exceptional range and refinement of his pianism, Mr Kauflin here imparts an enormous power and stature to this music." -JAZZDAGAMA (Coming Home)
"Being blind is only a part of who we are. It should never be something that defines us" -JK
ACCESSIBILITY RESOURCES
Justin Kauflin was diagnosed with proliferative exudative retinopathy, resulting in complete blindness by the age of 11. During his transition from low vision to total blindness, he received valuable adaptive services from the Virginia Beach public school system. With the aid of itinerant vision teachers, he attended classes with sighted peers, studying subjects like Japanese and AP Physics and graduating summa cum laude. He also mastered literary, math, and music Braille, along with orientation and mobility skills, supported by vocational rehabilitation from the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired.
The NJ Commission for the Blind offered orientation and mobility at William Paterson University, where Justin accessed brailled classical music scores through the National Library Service of the Library of Congress. He utilized tools such as Dancing Dots and Avid Sibelius to compose music for his assignments and create charts for his Trio. Advocacy programs, like the Kennedy Center VSA, enhance disability awareness, and in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State, sent Justin as a Jazz Ambassador to engage with students and perform during Jazz Week in Tbilisi, Georgia (American Days).
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) supports travel by providing assistance at airports and ADA-compliant transportation services. It has also improved dining and entertainment experiences through features like braille menus and Descriptive Video Services. At The Seeing Eye in Morristown, NJ, Justin was paired with his guide dog, Candy, who faithfully accompanied him for 12 years.
Recent advancements in assistive technology have created more opportunities for visually impaired individuals. The accessibility features of the Apple iPhone, including screen readers and GPS, are essential tools. Innovations like Native Instruments' Komplete Kontrol have allowed Justin to delve into sound design and music production, opening up exciting new avenues for creativity.
Website Accessibility Statement
www.JustinKauflin.com is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. We aim to adhere as closely as possible to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0, Level AA), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines explain how to make Web content more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines will help make the web more user friendly to everyone. Whilst www.JustinKauflin.com strives to adhere to the guidelines and standards for accessibility, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website and we are currently working to achieve this. Be aware that due to the dynamic nature of the website, minor issues may occasionally occur as it is updated regularly. We are continually seeking out solutions that will bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility.