Jake Byers - One Set Wednesday

Join us at The Jazz Station’s One Set Wednesday as UO Jazz Studies pianist Jake Byers and his group explore the music inspired by trumpeter Marquis Hill’s The Way We Play.

Jake Byers piano
Anderson Donley drums
K.C. Isaman bass
Sam Banton saxophone

Jake Byers decided as a young child that he would be a professional musician. He rose to the top of Oregon’s competitive clarinet scene, performed with youth orchestras and chamber ensembles, and went on to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Halfway through his junior year, a driver who failed to yield struck Jake while he was riding his bicycle through a crosswalk. He survived against the odds, but doctors warned he might never regain movement in his left side. During inpatient rehab after his coma, he found a new purpose at the piano in the rec room down the hall. With most of his motor function gone, he practiced every day of his recovery.

Since 2022, Jake has studied jazz piano with George Colligan, and with Keith Brown at the University of Oregon beginning in fall 2023. He has also rebuilt his technique through the Taubman approach with certified Level II teacher Deborah Cleaver. This concert shows how far his comeback has taken him.

Come hear the next generation of jazz musicians.