Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi
Pioneers in the use of four-hands piano in jazz, Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi have earned widespread success with their arrangements of classics from the stride piano, ragtime, and boogie woogie repertoires, as well as from the swing era and the Great American Songbook. They have performed across the United States, Europe, and Japan, winning the acclaim of critics and fans alike. Blending impeccable technique and mature musicality with humor and showmanship, they are considered the most engaging piano duo dedicated to the repertoire of classic jazz.
Stephanie (from St. Louis), a leading exponent of stride piano, and Paolo (from Milan), one of Italy’s foremost jazz pianists, met at a piano festival in Switzerland in 2008. Three years later, they started to collaborate on a four-hands piano project dedicated to classic jazz, preparing arrangements of songs from the swing era, as well as drawing from the ragtime and blues repertoire. Following the release of their first album, Two for One (2012), they have been invited to perform widely in the United States, Europe, and Japan. A second CD, Sentimental Journey (2014), shows Stephanie and Paolo’s commitment to the formula of four-hands duets on one piano, rarely used in jazz. Their partnership continued with Double Trio Live 2015 and Double Trio Always (2016), recorded in the piano trio setting, but with two pianists instead of one. In 2018, they released their first album on two pianos, Broadway and More.
The husband-and-wife duo has performed in a variety of venues, including the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Jazz at Filoli, the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, the Kobe Jazz Street Festival in Japan, the London Jazz Festival, the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, the Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Silkeborg Riverboat Jazz Festival in Denmark, the Bohém Ragtime & Jazz Festival in Hungary, Teatro Dal Verme Milano, Jazzland in Vienna, Jazz Bistro in Toronto, and other jazz clubs.
“I love to hear Stephanie and Paolo together. They are an inspiration. Such sympatico! Such back-and-forth! Individually they are marvelous musicians – we’ve known that, but together they play 4-handed stride as it’s never been done. Brava, bravo!”
– Dick Hyman
“It is unusual to hear a piano duet that is played by four hands on just one piano. Somehow Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi manage this near-impossible feat without getting in each other’s way. Their playing is very complementary and mutually inspiring with plenty of fireworks being felt along the way. In their individual careers and together in this collaboration, Paolo and Stephanie keep the rich legacies of ragtime, stride piano, and swing alive, fresh and creative. Their CD is a joy from start to finish.”
– Scott Yanow
“Stephanie and Paolo, revel in a gorgeous lightness of being on a beautiful assortment of songs, tempos, and approaches”
– Michael Steinman
Performed in: 2020, 2016, 2014
Performers: Stephanie Trick, Paolo Alderighi
