24-year-old Ariel Pocock has received international acclaim as an equally captivating jazz pianist, vocalist, and composer. Currently based in Durham, North Carolina, she is a 2015 graduate of the University of Miami's Frost School of Music.
Touchstone, Ariel's debut album, features fresh and compelling takes on classic jazz standards, original compositions, and her own arrangements of singer-songwriter material. Produced by Matt Pierson, the album features an all-star band of Julian Lage (guitar), Eric Harland (drums), Larry Grenadier (bass), and Seamus Blake (saxophone).
Ariel is steadily gaining momentum as a uniquely gifted and versatile musician with both her “true facility for…sinewy jazz piano [and] breezy, achingly plain-spoken vocal chops…” (Seattle Times). "Hers is a dynamic, slightly scorched voice that is deeply jazz-steeped. She’s as impressive at maneuvering the tricky curves of Monk and Bob Dorough as she is navigating the densely powerful storytelling of Randy Newman and Tom Waits. Pocock’s keyboard skills are just as mature, whether exploring the pastoral calm of Keith Jarrett’s “Country” or anchoring her own “Barrel Roll,” seven minutes of chameleonic dynamism...Touchstone is an album of equals, of profound mutual respect, of generously shared spotlights." (Jazz Times)
Ariel's original compositions and songs draw inspiration from a wide array of sources: Cuban and Brazilian folk music, the Great American Songbook, modern jazz composers such as Chick Corea and Brad Mehldau, and songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, and Paul Simon.