George Poe - Piano & Vocals
Born in Houston, Texas, George has always been a lover of music. In grade school he learned to play the trumpet in the school band. By high school, he had joined a small jazz combo, which allowed him to refine his tonal vocabulary on pieces from Steely Dan, Chicago, and Maynard Ferguson's band. But despite his love for the solos of Ferguson, Miles Davis, and Chuck Mangione, he eventually moved his focus from trumpet to piano. In so doing, he discovered a realm of musical possibilities open up to him. This was due largely to the fact that he could play the multiple notes of chords simultaneously instead of the single tones of the trumpet.
Fueled by an insatiable appetite for melodic arranging and songwriting, he immersed himself in the craft. His ear for music grew more sophisticated with each discovery, resulting in a home-grown, self-taught music theory. By age 17, he performed his first concert with a local rock band in the role of pop-music synthesizer player. For the next two decades, George put his talents to use in a variety of projects and groups, sometimes as band leader, other times serving as backup or session player in studio situations.
Then shortly before Valentine’s Day in 1998, George and a friend were encouraged to perform crooner standards and love ballads at a retirement center near where they lived. While the performances were well-received, something else also happened. Somewhere within the lush arrangements of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter, he instantly felt like he was home again. A fire from his ‘jazz days’ had been rekindled, as well as the desire to perform more sophisticated pieces reemerged within him. Recognizing that they 'had stumbled on to something', the two formed the musical duo, NOTHING SPECIAL which later developed into the jazz threesome of GEORGE POE TRIO.
