Sam Burckhardt and Jeremy Kahn | CD Release of "Lucky Dragonfly”

Airway Records is proud to announce its latest release “Lucky Dragonfly,” with Sam Burckhardt and Jeremy Kahn. 

Jeremy Kahn is one of Chicago’s busiest pianists, dividing time between Jazz venues, recording and teaching studios, and pit orchestras. He is a  graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, having studied with the legendary Jaki Byard. Jeremy then spent twelve years in New York  City. Highlights there include ten years playing with Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, and collaborating with Max Roach on his Obie Award-winning  score for “Shepardsets” (three Sam Shepard plays that were staged at La Mama). Moving to Chicago in 1993, Jeremy was the house pianist at the Gold Star Sardine Bar, and he continues to perform at The Jazz Showcase, The Green Mill, and Andy’s (where he plays weekly with the Andy Brown  Quartet). Jeremy is also the house pianist at Winter’s Jazz Club. A current faculty member at Northwestern University, he has also taught at DePaul,  Elmhurst, and Columbia. He has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, Sheila Jordan, the Chicago and Milwaukee  Symphony Orchestras, and countless others. Jeremy has also been a featured performer the Chicago and Hyde Park Jazz Festivals, and on the radio  shows of Studs Terkel and Marian McPartland. Many thousands of performances in theater pit orchestras are also on Jeremy’s resume, including  “Wicked”, “The Lion King” and “Spamalot.” “New York’s loss has been Chicago’s gain in the case of Jeremy Kahn, the splendid jazz pianist who  moved back to his hometown.” Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune.  

Sam Burckhardt, a native of Basel, Switzerland, moved to Chicago in 1982 to join the band of the Blues legend Sunnyland Slim. Through Sunnyland,  Sam performed and recorded with many of Chicago’s Blues musicians, among them Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Johnson, Willie Smith, Bob Stroger, Zora  Young, Big Time Sarah, Erwin Helfer, and he performed with former Duke Ellington band member Othella Dallas, Maria Muldaur, Dana Gillespie, Al  Copley, Dado Moroni, and pianist Dan Nimmer of the Wynton Marsalis Band. In 1994, Sam was a founding member of the Mighty Blue Kings, one of the biggest bands of the neo-swing movement. Over 70,000 copies were sold of their debut CD “Meet Me In Uptown.” In 1996, Sam helped form a  10-piece jump-swing band, The Big Swing, touring with them until 1998. He formed his own group, the Sam Burckhardt Combo in 1999, and has  been playing regularly since, in Chicago, nationally, and abroad with a line-up ranging from duo to nine-piece band. Sam has recorded fifteen CDs  for his own Airway Records label, under his name or with artists such as Zora Young, Hubert Sumlin, Oscar Wilson., and Lucas Montagnier. He is the  recipient the 2008 Swiss Blues Award, and the runner-up of the 2016 Swiss Jazz Award. “Burckhardt demonstrates impressive technique, musical  imagination, arranging ability, and a relentless sense of swing on this top-notch outing.” Kevin Toelle wrote in the Illinois Entertainer.  

SAM BURCKHARDT & JEREMY KAHN ONLINE 

samburckhardt.com // kahnman.com // bandcamp.com/luckydragonfly // airwayrecords.com