Carmen Staaf
Piano
45 age
February 9, 1981 Birthday
Seattle, Washington, U.S. Birthplace
www.carmenstaaf.com Website
Social
Shows
About
Carmen Staaf is a jazz pianist, composer, and educator based in New York. She serves as pianist and musical director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater and has performed with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, both of whom mentored her at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance. She co-leads the ensemble Science Fair with drummer Allison Miller, whose 2018 debut was named to both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times best jazz lists and received 4.5 stars from DownBeat. Her 2025 album Sounding Line explores the compositional legacies of Thelonious Monk and Mary Lou Williams. She has also toured extensively as an accordionist and vocalist with Mexican singer Lila Downs, appearing on the Grammy-winning album Pecados y Milagros. Her teaching positions include The New School, Stanford Jazz Workshop, and Berklee College of Music, where she was one of the youngest faculty members ever hired.
Trivia
Staaf was one of the youngest faculty members ever hired by Berklee College of Music, joining the piano department in 2005. She also plays the accordion, touring extensively with Mexican singer-songwriter Lila Downs. She holds a degree in anthropology from Tufts University alongside her jazz performance degree from New England Conservatory. Herbie Hancock commissioned her to provide transcriptions for his MasterClass.com piano lessons. She spent six months studying and performing in Cuba after high school, immersing herself in Afro-Cuban musical traditions.
Early Life
Carmen Staaf was born on February 9, 1981, in Seattle, Washington. She studied classical piano for twelve years under Alisa Moshinsky, a pedagogy student of Russian composer Dmitri Kabalevsky. Her earliest jazz inspiration came from the recordings of Erroll Garner, followed by a deep connection to the music of Mary Lou Williams. After graduating from Garfield High School in 1999, she spent six months studying and performing in Cuba. She then earned a double degree from Tufts University in anthropology and from the New England Conservatory in jazz performance, completing both in 2005. She continued her studies with pianist Sophia Rosoff in New York and with Danilo Perez and Bob Brookmeyer. She was accepted to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA, where she studied directly with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.
Carmen Staaf Solos
2018
Piano solo - You Stepped out of a Dream - 2018
4/4 swing in C major at 230 BPM
Piano solo - Isfahan - 2018
4/4 swing in Dâ™ major at 92 BPM