Jahari Stampley is a Chicago-born pianist who began playing the piano at the age of 14. Within two years of exploring the instrument, he began winning various competitions including Best High School Jazz Soloist Award and the National YoungArts Competition. By the age of 18, he was recognized and followed by many world-renowned musicians including Yebba Smith, Jill Scott, Robert Glasper, Cory Henry, Jacob Collier, Stanley Clarke, and Derrick Hodge, among others. Jahari has toured with Stanley Clarke and is featured on Derrick Hodge’s Color of Noise album.
Jahari has performed in venues such as Radio City Music Hall in New York City, The Met Philadelphia, Byline Bank Aragon in Chicago, Carnegie Hall in New York City, San Francisco Jazz Center, and many others. He’s also headlined and performed solo piano tours in Berlin, Koethen and Magdeburg, Germany; Geneva, Switzerland; and Los Angeles, California. He’s conducted music workshops in Santa Ana, Costa Rica, and taught masterclasses in Spokane, Washington. Jahari is also the band leader & featured pianist playing the part of Bill Withers’ keyboardist in the feature film Spinning Gold. Many of Jahari’s performances have garnered praise in various media outlets, articles, and magazines throughout the world.
Jahari won first place in the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute International Competition, 2023 Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz, 2023 Chicago Youth Symphony Alumni Award (the first non-classical musician to receive the honor); and was awarded the 2023 Luminarts Fellowship for his debut album Still Listening. Earlier in his life Jahari won the Bösendorfer prize for the international 2019 American Jazz Pianists Association Competition (for ages 18-25); the 2018 ASCAP Foundation Fran Morgenstern Davis Scholarship, and the National Young Arts Foundation 2018 Young Arts Winner.
Alongside all of this, Jahari released his first debut album entitled Still Listening which rose to #1 on Apple iTunes in the first weeks of the album’s release. The music on Still Listening has also been set in an orchestral arrangement for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Jahari also designed and wrote the music for a mobile music education game, Piano Chronicles. It is available as a mobile app for all mobile devices on Google Play Store and the Apple Store.
