Peter Martin

Peter Martin's father found himself unexpectedly troubled when his son gravitated toward jazz, a departure from the typical parental unease over rock and its offshoots. A viola player with the St. Louis Symphony, the elder Martin had a wife who taught violin, and their child revealed an innate musical aptitude by handling the violin prior to acquiring speech. Piano lessons began at age three, after which the boy mastered music notation and began composing within two years. As jazz captured his focus near adolescence, his father fretted over locating a suitable guide for such evident promise. At thirteen, an opportunity arose when Wynton Marsalis visited St. Louis to perform with the local symphony; the elder Martin arranged a session for his son, excusing him from classes, and the encounter quickly evolved into a lasting mentor-protégé bond. The younger Martin subsequently shared stages with Marsalis plus Joshua Redman, Terence Blanchard, Dianne Reeves, Roy Hargrove, Harry Connick Jr., Stanley Turrentine, Jazz Futures II, Nicholas Payton, and Christian McBride. He also performs with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra under Marsalis's direction, joining players drawn from locales as varied as Scotland and Harlem. Though raised in St. Louis, Martin entered the world in Florida, trained at the Juilliard School of Music, and worked in a group fronted by vocalist Betty Carter. Beyond issuing several albums under his own name, he has appeared on over two dozen recordings by fellow jazz figures, among them Redman's Freedom in the Groove and Spirit of the Moment (Live at the Village Vanguard).