Joanne Brackeen, born in Ventura, California, in 1938, is considered one of the pre-eminent pianists in jazz. Tony Bennett has called her, "a visionary of extraordinary depth." Largely self taught, she started playing clubs in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, working with such luminaries as Dexter Gordon, Harold Land, Charles Lloyd and Bobby Hutcherson. She married saxophonist Charles Brackeen in the early 1960s, had two daughters and two sons and moved to New York in 1965. She performed and recorded with David Liebman and Woody Shaw and in 1969 became the first (and only) female member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. After leaving the Messengers in 1972, she had high profile tenures with Joe Henderson (1972-75) and Stan Getz (1975-1977), and in 1975 released, “Six Ate”, (Candid) the first of two dozen records under her own name. Brackeen has appeared around the world, performing mostly in solo and trio formats with musicians like Eddie Gomez, Cecil McBee, John Patitucci, Jack DeJohnette, and Billy Hart. "Joanne Brackeen is a pianist-composer of phenomenal capacity," said Bill Evans.

Tickets are $15 for the general public, $10 for students, and are available at State Street Fruit Store and the Northampton Center for the Arts. The Center invites music lovers to support the Series by buying a "Piece of the Piano" in advance (two tickets per performance for $60) at Brown Paper Tickets

A World of Piano is made possible by support from Friends of the Northampton Center for the Arts and the Northampton Arts Council. Thanks to WMUA, 91.1FM and the UMass Fine Arts Center.