Justin Clay Perry

Who is Justin Clay Perry?

Justin Clay Perry is an American jazz, pop, and Latin pianist best known for his arrangements heard behind numerous recording artists. He is a graduate of the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in Tampa Bay where he studied classical and jazz piano and composition. He obtained a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Composition from the University of South Florida in Tampa, a Master of Music in Studio Jazz Writing and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Performance from the University of Miami.

Perry's doctoral essay A Comparative Analysis of Selected Piano Solos by Red Garland, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, and Herbie Hancock from their Recordings with the Miles Davis Groups, 1955–1968 is being edited for the commercial market under the name The Jazz Pianist: The First 75 Years and will contain bios of 200 jazz pianists from 1890 to 1965 during the periods known as Ragtime, Dixieland, Swing, Bebop, and beyond.

In 1998, Perry was selected Best Jazz Instrumentalist in the U. S. and Canada for Down Beat magazine's 21st Annual Student Music Awards.

As a youngster, Perry studied privately from numerous jazz pianists around the Tampa Bay area including Bossa Nova pioneer Manfredo Fest and Kamau Kenyetta He was inspired by the playing of Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, and Chick Corea.