The Pete Malinverni Trio - Heaven (2017)

A native of Niagara Falls, NY, born April 16, 1957, Pete Malinverni's father was a pipe fitter and steam fitter in area chemical plants, and his mother was a housewife; both were very supportive of his musical training. He began classical piano studies with local legend Laura Copia at the age of six, played in the local Pentecostal church and funk/rock bands in high school. In the Niagara Falls school system, he was notably mentored by high school band and choir director-pianist Douglas Monroe, and was instructed privately by jazz musician Ron Corsaro. Upon graduation from high school, he was listening to and collaborating with upstate New York jazz musicians Don Menza, Joe Romano, and Sam Noto; he then attended the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, receiving his undergraduate degree, and earned his Masters from the S.U.N.Y./Purchase Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano and composition with renowned harpsichord master Anthony Newman, the man Wynton Marsalis once claimed was the "high priest of Bach." Continued studies included work with Sophia Rosoff. Malinverni arrived in New York City in 1981, performing with a variety of his own groups, and especially furthering the tradition of piano-bass-drums trio icons that came before him and established this challenging format. Among the bandmates he has performed with and comprising his regular working trio are bassist Dennis Irwin and drummer Leroy Williams. In other rhythm sections he has played with Mel Lewis, Vernel Fournier, Ugonna Okegwo, Todd Coolman, and Tom Melito. For larger ensembles, he's worked with Tim Hagans, Rich Perry, Joe Magnarelli, and Ralph Lalama. As a leader, Malinverni has recorded several CDs for the Reservoir label. An instructor in his own right, Malinverni has served on faculties of New York University, William Paterson University, and back at the Purchase Conservatory, now chaired by Coolman, and where he teaches. He has also taught jazz appreciation to non-music majors, and classical ear training. One of his highest honors is the Marc Crawford Jazz Educators Award. Malinverni is also an author and writer apart from music, doing CD liner notes, and contributing to periodicals Piano Stylist and Record Review. As a composer, he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Meet the Composer Foundation and contributed works for the Jazz Composers Collective. Since 1993, he has served as music director for the African-American Devoe Street Baptist Church in the Williamsburg district of Brooklyn. His suites for gospel choir and jazz ensemble played regularly are based on the Psalms of David. He formed the 80-plus member Soul Voices gospel choir at Purchase in 2008, and has prepared a presentation of "The Good Shepherd," a six-movement concerto for choir and orchestra with texts taken from the 23rd Psalm of King David. Malinverni's wife is the jazz vocalist Jody Sandhaus. © Michael G. Nastos